Students mobilize for Harris’ reproductive rights rally

Beyoncé, Willie Nelson take the stage in support

By Riya Misra     10/29/24 11:39pm

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a rally for reproductive rights in Houston on Oct. 25. Musical artist Beyoncé Knowles-Carter drew crowds at the rally, returning to her hometown to endorse Harris in the U.S. presidential race. Over 30,000 attendees — Harris’ largest rally turnout so far, her campaign said — packed the Shell Energy Stadium, emblazoned with signs saying “Trust Women” and “Vote for Reproductive Freedom.”

Ten days before the election, Harris’ stop in Houston is a rare one: It’s the first time in 30 years that a candidate has campaigned in Texas, a state that last voted Democrat in 1976. 

“I know sometimes in Texas, folks are like ‘Is it worth it? Does it make a difference?’ Harris said at the rally. “Yes, it does … momentum is on our side.”

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Rice Young Democrats organized a group of over 70 students to attend the rally, led by Benjamin Kagan and Sammi Frey. After the event was announced on Oct. 22, Kagan said he approached contacts at the Harris campaign in hopes of involving students. After obtaining “friends and family” seats at the front of the stadium floors, Kagan and Frey said they recruited students to attend and arranged carpools to transport people to the stadium.

“We expected maybe 20, 25, people,” Kagan, a Baker College freshman, said. “But within a very short time of sending out an [RSVP] form … we were inundated with people reaching out, and many, many sign-ups.”

Over 1.5 million people signed up for the rally, with lines wrapping around the stadium and spilling into the roads. Students like Ridhi Dondeti, a Jones College freshman, and Matthew Hong, a Brown College senior, said they waited for as long as four hours.

Actress Jessica Alba opened the event  at 7:30 p.m., endorsing Harris. “Going back is not an option,” she said before introducing Houston obstetrician-gynecologist Todd Ivey, who gave a speech criticizing the state’s abortion bans.

Country singer Willie Nelson then took the stage, performing a rendition of his 1975 song “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”

“Are we ready to say ‘Madam President’?” Nelson asked the crowd, who applauded in response.

Several women spoke throughout the rally, sharing harrowing pregnancy experiences. Yesenia Gamez Gamboa was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy in 2021 — she received a “safe and quick” abortion that saved her life, she said. One year later, after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, both Ondrea Lintz and Amanda Zurawski were denied similar abortion care after their pregnancies were ruled inviable; both women soon developed life-threatening sepsis.

“I am here to advocate for the women who are unable to share their truth,” Lintz said on stage. “For the many Black and brown women whose pain is often dismissed and disregarded.”

Zurawski eventually sued the state of Texas, losing but becoming a figurehead for the abortion rights movement in the process. Zurawski and her husband, Josh, spoke at the rally and introduced Rep. Colin Allred, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. In his speech, Allred emphasized his support for both Harris and her reproductive health policies.

At the end of the night, Beyoncé, her mother Tina Knowles and singer Kelly Rowland welcomed and endorsed Harris.

“I’m not here as a celebrity. I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said in her speech. “Imagine our daughters growing up, seeing what’s possible with no ceilings.”

On stage, Harris then reiterated the reproductive health policies at stake in this year’s election. She played a reel of women, including Zurawski and Lintz, speaking about their fraught fertility journeys in the wake of Roe’s fall.

“We know that women have died because of [Donald] Trump’s abortion bans. Here today is Shanette Williams, mother of Amber Nicole Thurman,” Harris continued. Thurman died in 2022 from a fatal, preventable infection after Georgia’s restrictive abortion laws delayed emergency medical care.

“We must speak her name. I promised her mother I would speak her name.”

“Hearing all the stories of women, especially Texas women, and how they felt after their reproductive rights were stripped from them, was so moving,” said Calen Redic, who attended the rally with Kagan and Frey. “One of my friends and I cried for basically all of [Harris] ads.”

At the end of her speech, Harris addressed the young voters in the audience, particularly Generation Z.

“The thing I love about you, is that you are impatient for change,” Harris said. “You know it ain’t right that you may have fewer rights than your mother or grandmother … I see you, and I see your power.”

“It was really exciting to see how [supportive of] Gen Z she was,” said Frey, a Hanszen College sophomore, after the rally. “She definitely wanted the spirit and the energy that we had, and I think we definitely have the ability to bring her campaign forward.”

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