US :, three days before Election Day, thousands of women poured into Washington in a passionate show of support for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her demands for access to reproductive health care.
The vice president has made abortion rights a central tenet of her White House campaign against Republican Donald Trump, and protesters at the annual Women’s March frequently brought up the topic.
Leah Brooker, 19, who came to the event from North Carolina, stated, “Voting for the candidate that will support our rights as women is the most important thing to me.”
“Very empowering that my first vote was for a woman,” the student told AFP, noting that she had already cast her ballot in early voting. She held a sign that read, ” Women will be presidents if boys remain boys.
The slogans “Voting prevents unwanted presidencies” and “A woman’s place is in the Oval Office” could be found on other signs. The attendees, according to the organizers, were approximately 15,000. Different US urban communities facilitated sister walks.
Speakers at Freedom Plaza rallied support for Harris, a 60-year-old, against the backdrop of the dome of the US Capitol.
“We won’t be going back!” One of Harris’s campaign slogans was chanted by the crowd again and again. Marlene Wagner, 70, a retired person from Nebraska, stated that she was joining “for my grandchildren and my children because I fear for their future.” After the 12th week of pregnancy, abortion is illegal in her Midwestern state.
The restriction was imposed after Trump-appointed justices on the US Supreme Court convinced the panel in 2022 to end the national right to abortion.
Ten states are holding referendums on abortion access concurrently with the presidential election.
A proposal to amend Nebraska’s constitution to include restrictions on abortion and another to extend the time frame during which the procedure is legal are both pending.
The choice was stark for Wagner, who also participated in the inaugural Women’s March in 2017 following Trump’s election.
“Women haven’t been able to get the care they need, which has already had repercussions,” the restrictions on abortion have said. Although their voices were largely drowned out, a few counterprotesters accused Harris of being a “baby killer.”
Standing near a Planned Parenthood booth, 66-year-old New Yorker Abby Cohen described Trump as “very dangerous” and “dismisses women.”
She added, “I hope that all women vote for Harris.” However, I also wish that all men cast votes for Harris.
