(Madison) Kamala Harris took a direct swipe at Donald Trump on Friday, calling him the “architect” of the rollback of abortion rights and the resulting tragedies, as Americans in several states began voting early.
Rallying in Georgia and Wisconsin, two key swing states in this election, the vice president vowed to defend abortion, which has been severely restricted in many parts of the country since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling.
The Democrat is hammering home this argument 46 days before an election which, according to experts, should be marked by a record divergence between the female vote, which is rather favorable to her, and the male vote, which is more oriented toward the Republican Donald Trump.
“One in three women in America lives in a state where abortion is banned because of Trump,” Ms.me Harris at a campaign rally in Atlanta.
PHOTO ELIJAH NOUVELAGE, REUTERS
“One in three women in America lives in a state where abortion is banned because of Trump.”
“This is a health crisis and Donald Trump is the architect of this crisis,” she attacked, recalling that the former Republican president said he was “proud” to have appointed the conservative judges who allowed the turnaround of the highest American court.
A charge repeated almost word for word a few hours later at a rally in Madison.
Mme Harris portrayed her Republican opponents as “hypocrites” who “pretend to talk to you about what’s in the best interests of women and children,” while “neglecting” issues of perinatal mortality or access to care for pregnant women and mothers.
An “avoidable” death
In a serious tone, the candidate recalled the fate of Amber Thurman, 28, who developed rare complications after taking an abortion pill and who died in August 2022 in Georgia, after not receiving treatment in time.
According to a report on the ProPublica website, an official commission in that state ruled that her death, which was “preventable,” was caused by a delay in performing the surgery that could have saved her and that the delay was the result of the passage of a law criminalizing the procedure in question — a curettage of the uterus.
Mme Harris led the crowd in chants of Amber Thurman’s name and lambasted the “unbearable judgment” of women seeking abortions, “making them feel like criminals.”
“Should women wait until they are dying before we take action? Nobody wants that,” she charged in Madison.
The 59-year-old candidate has been much more vocal about the issue than Joe Biden, whom she replaced at short notice in the race for the White House in July. The president has avoided the word “abortion” as much as possible.
For his part, Donald Trump went to Miami on Friday for a fundraising meeting. Money remains the lifeblood of a campaign that is expected to see the candidates spend a total of one billion dollars.
The outcome of the presidential election remains more uncertain than ever, with Mr. Trump and Mr.me Harris is neck and neck in several of the seven key states where it will likely all come down to a tricky game.
In Georgia, where Joe Biden won by less than 12,000 votes, the Republican billionaire is now being prosecuted for the pressure he is accused of having exerted to reverse the result.
Early voting
While the election itself takes place on November 5, America is actually already starting to vote. Polls opened Friday for the start of early voting in Virginia, Minnesota and South Dakota.
The aim of this arrangement is to improve voter turnout by allowing people who are unable to do so due to personal circumstances to vote and to reduce crowds on election day.
“The election is here,” Mr.me Harris, mentioning those three states. “We have work to do to energize, organize, mobilize.”
“It’s good to have early voting, to give people lots of opportunities to vote. I’m a big proponent of it, to get as many people voting as possible,” Madison Granger, a candidate in a local election in Arlington, a Virginia city bordering Washington, told AFP.
Michelle Kilkenny came to drop off her ballot in Arlington and was very motivated.
“I vote to encourage people to vote,” said the 55-year-old voter. “Voting early, especially on the first day, helps the campaign and boosts the level of enthusiasm.”