MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump's remark that he would protect women “whether women like it or not” showed that the Republican presidential candidate's “power, her authority, her right and her “Rights” do not understand the ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.”

“I think it's offensive to everyone, by the way,” Harris said before heading off to campaign in the western swing states of Arizona and Nevada.

Trump appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who formed the conservative majority that struck down federal abortion rights. As the fallout from the 2022 decision unfolds, Trump has been boasting at public events and in social media posts that he would “protect women” and ensure they “don't think about abortion.”

At a rally Wednesday evening near Green Bay, Wisconsin, Trump told supporters that his aides had asked him to stop using the term because it was “inappropriate.”

He told the crowd that he told aides, “I said, 'Well, I'm going to do it whether the women like it or not.' I will protect her.'”

Harris said the remark was part of a series of troubling statements from Trump. “This is just the latest in a long series of revelations from the former president about how he thinks about women and their agency,” she said.

Trump and Republicans have struggled to talk about abortion rights, especially as women across the country face abortion restrictions that go far beyond the ability to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Trump gave contradictory answers: He said women should be punished for abortions and bragged about appointing judges. During his successful 2016 campaign, he told voters that if elected, he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. to overthrow Wade, saying he was “pro-life.”

But he has also vowed in recent weeks to veto a nationwide abortion ban after repeatedly refusing to make such a promise. He said states should regulate care and that some laws are “too strict.”