(Greensburg) ‘Life is precious’: Donald Trump supporters in Pennsylvania are galvanized by the prospect of the Supreme Court overturning abortion rights, which promises a landslide political victory for the Republican.
Posted at 12:09 p.m.
In the crowd gathered in torrential rain in Greensburg for a gathering of the former president, who flirts more and more openly with the possibility of relaunching himself in the race for the White House, the subject is omnipresent.
“I am a Christian, and I find that our world is not going in the right direction”, assures AFP Nicole Rye, 45 years old.
Photo CAMILLE CAMDESSUS, Agence France-Presse
Nicole Rye
For several years, this woman from Florida has been crossing America with her husband to the rhythm of Donald Trump rallies. The couple run a traveling shop where they sell “Trump 2024” items and bird name-stuffed stickers aimed at Joe Biden.
“God offers us children as blessings”, believes this woman in the red sweatshirt, extremely grateful that Donald Trump has anchored the Supreme Court in conservatism, which decides on major social issues.
“I have a past,” she confides with tears in her eyes. “There are us, the women, who have been there, the women who know,” she lets out in a sob, suggesting that she herself has in the past been able to resort to an abortion.
And to catch up. “But life is life, and I firmly believe that. »
“So I’m telling you, it’s not an option. »
“Einstein”
“Who tells you that by aborting a baby, we have not just put an end to the days of the next Einstein, or of a doctor who could cure cancer? “Adds Leroy Kinnan who accompanies his daughter to his first meeting of Donald Trump.
Photo HANNAH BEIER, REUTERS
A Donald Trump supporter shelters from the torrential rain while waiting for the ex-president’s speech.
The 47-year-old man, who lives in the region, considers that abortion is now used “as a means of contraception” and wants it banned, except in cases of rape or incest.
If the Supreme Court were to strike down the case law that has founded the right to abortion in the United States since 1973, as the revelation of a draft judgment suggested this week, each state would be free to prohibit or to allow abortion. About 20 conservative states have already promised to make it illegal.
In an increasingly divided America, this right is as ardently defended by the Democrats as it is attacked by the Republicans.
But, perhaps anxious not to declare victory too soon, Donald Trump was content to touch on the subject during his rally, boasting in front of ten thousand supporters of having, under his presidency, tipped the balance of the Supreme Court. “They are making a very important decision right now,” he said simply.
The Republican billionaire is in Pennsylvania to support the candidacy of several Republicans in the midterm legislative elections, scheduled for November, during which abortion should be a central subject.
One more fight
Jason Killmeyer, candidate for a post in the House of Representatives, wanders through the muddy aisles of the fairgrounds that host the rally.
“800,000 dead babies a year is too many,” he says, referring to the annual number of abortions in the United States according to several research institutes, and taking up a common argument of anti-abortionists, who consider that fetuses are already people.
With the strong desire to “engage in culture wars” against the left, he promises, if elected, to include in federal law the ban on abortion.
This is what John Roan, 52, who and his wife have adopted six children, now aged 8 to 27, would also like.
“We think life is precious,” says the man in the khaki cap. Alongside Donald Trump, he assures us, “there is still a fight to be fought”.