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March 15, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Democrat presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris took a swing at Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday over old comments Pence made explaining how as a married man he practices self-limits such as not meeting alone with women other than his wife.

“I disagree with most of what the vice president stands for, when he makes decisions about our LGBTQ community in a way that doesn’t understand that they should be entitled to full equality and all rights under the law as any other American,” Harris told MSNBC, Politico reported. “I disagree with him when he suggests it’s not possible to have meetings with women alone by himself. I think that’s ridiculous — the idea that you would deny a professional woman the opportunity to have a meeting with the vice president of the United States is outrageous.”

Harris was referring to comments Pence had made in various old interviews, which resurfaced during the early months of the Trump administration, in which Pence explained that he practices the idea of “building a zone around your marriage” by avoiding situations that could risk either temptations to or simply rumors about infidelity.

Those rules include never dining alone with women other than his wife Karen, not attending events with alcohol without her, and only using male aides if he needed someone to help with after-hours work.

Pence never suggested, as Harris accused, that he would “deny a professional woman the opportunity to have a meeting,” but rather that he would simply require that another person also be in the room.

Various women who know and work with Pence forcefully pushed back against Harris’ attack, USA Today reported, including his press secretary and adviser Alyssa Farah, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

“He has been a strong supporter and mentor to me throughout my entire career and I would not be where I am today without his guidance,” said Verma, whose tenure with Pence dates back to his time as Indiana governor.

In July 2017, The New York Times released the results of a NYT/Morning Consult poll that found Pence’s views were more mainstream than his detractors had assumed.

“Around a quarter think private work meetings with colleagues of the opposite sex are inappropriate,” the Times reported. “Nearly two-thirds say people should take extra caution around members of the opposite sex at work. A majority of women, and nearly half of men, say it’s unacceptable to have dinner or drinks alone with someone of the opposite sex other than their spouse.”

2017 would go on to see a wave of allegations of long-running sexual abuse, assault, and exploitation by powerful figures in Hollywood, politics, and media, leading observers such as The Federalist’s Jessica Burke to point out that Pence’s rules protect women from the potential for assault as well as men from false accusations.

Harris holds 100 percent pro-abortion ratings with Planned Parenthood and NARAL, and as the former Attorney General of California she played a key role in defending the abortion giant over its baby-parts scandal and instead targeting the Center for Medical Progress’ pro-life investigators who exposed it. Most recently, she joined every other Democrat senator running for president in voting against legislation that would have required abortionists to transfer living newborns to hospitals after failed abortions.