The White House election, reproductive rights and abortion

2024-07-31 19:29:20, Kosova & Bota CNA

Access to abortion is one of the key issues in the race for the White House. Democrat Kamala Harris' campaign has based part of her campaign on support for abortion rights in hopes of attracting voters in the November election. As Voice of America correspondent Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his party have softened their public stance against abortion.

Women's abortion rights figure prominently in Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris' meetings.

"We who believe in reproductive rights will stop Donald Trump's extreme restrictions on abortion because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies, not the government to tell them what to do." , says Ms. Harris.

Former President Donald Trump hailed the Supreme Court's 2022 decision that struck down federal protections for abortion. Mr Trump says it is up to the states to decide on abortion.

"Democrats are radicals, not all of them, because most of them agree with us. Our position is that the issue of abortion now belongs to the states," says Mr. Trump.

Recently, Republican Trump and his party have softened their rhetoric on abortion, while previously calling for a nationwide ban. That's no coincidence, says Rutgers University polling expert Ashley Koning.

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"The mid-term and special elections highlighted how important the issue of abortion is to voters. Americans support the issue of reproductive health and abortion," says Ms. Koning.

Democrats have based their election platform on women's right to choose and are supporting abortion clinics. On July 23, Vice President Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, visited a reproductive health center in McLean, Virginia. The center's director, Dr. Jessica Rubio, appreciated the support.

"I believe that this is one of the most important election topics. It is important that the vice-president and her husband focus on this issue, continue the engagement with us and draw up a plan".

Among anti-abortion groups, there are those who doubt that the issue of reproductive rights will increase turnout in November's elections.

The president of the National Right to Life Committee, Carol Tobias, says the Republican duo likely won't focus as much on abortion as Democrat Harris' campaign is doing.

"I think they will talk about what they think is important. I don't know to what extent they will react to her (Harris). They must definitely speak that an unborn child is a member of the human family that deserves protection".

Analysts expect Mr. Trump's campaign to continue prioritizing the economy in meetings with voters, as historically, this has been the main concern of Americans in presidential elections./ VOA