In Georgia, Kamala Harris calls for defending abortion rights

At a rally in Atlanta, the Democrat called on voters to elect her as the next president of the United States, in order to protect access to abortion.

“This election is a battle for the future, and for freedom. (…) That includes women’s freedom to control their own bodies.” From the first words of her rally in Atlanta, Georgia, Kamala Harris set the tone for her speech: serious, solemn. Just like the subject that the American vice-president came to address in this southern state on Friday, September 20. “Since the right to abortion was overturned [par la Cour suprême en 2022]I have met several women who were refused treatment for miscarriage, launched the Democratic presidential candidate. And now two women are dead, here in Georgia.”

Earlier this week, ProPublica reported that two women had died in 2022 from complications after taking abortion pills, even though Georgia had just banned abortions after six weeks — a point at which most pregnancies are not yet detected. Kamala Harris, who has made defending abortion a central issue of her campaign, shared the story of one of them. “Amber Nicole Thurman had a plan for herself, for her son, for their future. When she found out she was pregnant, she decided to have an abortion.”

Forced to travel to another state to terminate her pregnancy, Amber Thurman suffered serious complications upon her return to Georgia. But doctors, fearing they would be accused of performing an abortion and be prosecuted, waited hours before intervening. The ordeal of the 28-year-old woman “lasted 20 hours”before she succumbed to sepsis, Kamala Harris said. “Amber’s death was preventable”she insisted with emotion, recalling that an official commission had concluded that doctors should have given her care more quickly.

“We know why we are here: Donald Trump has appointed three Supreme Court justices” when he was in the White House, “in the goal” to overturn the ruling guaranteeing the right to abortion, accused Kamala Harris. “Now, more than 20 states are restricting” reproductive rights, the American vice president noted. In several of them, termination of pregnancy is even prohibited in cases of rape or incest, the New York Times.

“This is a health crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of it. He boasts [du revirement de la Cour suprême]while women are dying. (…) How dare he?”

Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential candidate

at a meeting in Atlanta

Between two mockeries aimed at the Republican candidate and his running mate, JD Vance, Kamala Harris considered that “the challenge [de la présidentielle] is big”. “If re-elected president, Donald Trump will go even further”warned the Democrat, saying that her opponent would take measures to restrict access to abortion throughout the country. And she invited the few hundred activists who came to listen to her, mostly women, to vote for her on November 5. “There are 46 days left until what may be the most important election of our lifetimes. Georgia, are you ready to make your voice heard?”