Three days before the presidential election, thousands of women took to the streets of Washington on Saturday to express their support for Kamala Harris. The Democratic candidate has made the protection of abortion rights a central theme of her campaign, and it was the theme defended at this "women's march".
"Voting for the candidate who will support our rights as women is the most important thing to me,", 19-year-old Leah Brooker, who came from North Carolina for the event, told AFP. She voted in advance in this key state and is happy that she was able to cast her vote as a woman in the first presidential elections, news.bg specified.
In her hands, along with her best friend, she held a carefully crafted sign that read: "If men stay men, then women will be president.
On the stage, located in "Svoboda" Square, one speaker after another called to vote for the 60-year-old candidate of the Democratic Party, with the dome of the US Congress serving as a background. "We're not going back," chanted the crowd, adopting one of Kamala Harris' campaign slogans.
Marlene Wagner, 70, traveled from Nebraska to attend the event. She said she was here "because of my grandchildren and my children, because I fear for their future". In her state, the right to abortion is limited to no more than 12 weeks into pregnancy after the US Supreme Court, in a major overhaul by Donald Trump, struck down federal protections for voluntary termination of pregnancy.
Referenda on abortion rights are being held on Tuesday in 10 states alongside the presidential election. In Nebraska, one of the proposals aims to enshrine the new restriction in the state constitution, and another aims to extend the period for obtaining an abortion. For Marlene Wagner, the choice was made quickly.
The restrictions "have already had consequences because women have not been able to get the care they need," lamented the woman, who also attended the first Women's March in 2017, which followed Donald's inauguration Trump and gathered hundreds of thousands of people.
In Washington, several counter-demonstrators accusing Kamala Harris of being a "baby killer" also tried to speak out on Saturday, although some women struggled to cover their voices and placards.
Donald Trump is "very dangerous" and "doesn't consider women," accused 66-year-old Abby Cohen, not far from the Planned Parenthood stand. "We are 50% of the population."
In three days, "I hope all the women will vote for Harris,", the New Yorker dreamed, just before the crowd headed to the White House lawn. "But I hope all the men will vote for Harris too."