Hundreds of girls have rallied in Washington, DC, in assist of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and reproductive rights.
The vice chairman has made abortion rights a central plank of her White Home bid in opposition to Republican Donald Trump, who appeared to have publicly backed the 2022 Supreme Court docket ruling that took away the constitutional proper to an abortion.
“Voting for the candidate that’s going to assist our rights as ladies is crucial factor to me,” stated Leah Brooker, 19, who travelled from North Carolina to affix the occasion on Saturday, three days earlier than Election Day.
The scholar stated she had already solid her poll in early voting, calling it “very empowering that my first vote was for a lady”.
She held an indication studying: “If boys shall be boys, then ladies shall be presidents.”
Different indicators had slogans like “Voting prevents undesirable presidencies” and “A girl’s place is within the Oval Workplace.”
Organisers estimated turnout was about 15,000 individuals. Different US cities additionally organised sister marches.
With the dome of the US Capitol because the backdrop, audio system at Freedom Plaza whipped up assist for 60-year-old Harris.
“We’re not going again!” the group chanted, repeating certainly one of Harris’s marketing campaign slogans.
Retiree Marlene Wagner, 70, got here from Nebraska, saying she was becoming a member of “for my grandkids and my youngsters as a result of I concern for his or her future”.
In her Midwestern state, abortion is banned after the twelfth week of being pregnant.
The restriction got here after US Supreme Court docket justices appointed by Trump tipped the panel in 2022 into ending the nationwide proper to abortion granted 50 years in the past via the Roe v Wade verdict.
Abortion entry is on the poll in 10 states, in referendums which can be happening alongside the presidential vote.
In Nebraska, a proposal seeks so as to add abortion restrictions to the state structure, whereas one other seeks to increase the interval through which the process is allowed.
For Wagner, who additionally participated within the first Girls’s March in 2017 after Trump’s election, the selection was stark.
The abortion restrictions have “already had repercussions, as a result of ladies haven’t been capable of get the care they want”.
