WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of women gathered in the nation’s capital and elsewhere Saturday to support abortion rights and other feminist causes ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Demonstrators carried placards and signs through the city’s streets, chanting slogans such as “We will not go back.” Some men joined them. Speakers urged people to vote in the election – not just for president, but also on ballot issues such as abortion rights amendments that will be put before voters in various states.
At the Women’s March in Washington, feminist activist Fanny Gomez-Lugo read a list of states with abortion ballot measures before leading the crowd in a chant: “Abortion is freedom!”
In Kansas City, Missouri, rally organizers called on people to register and knock on doors to advocate for an abortion rights measure.
Abortion rights have overtaken inflation as the top presidential election issue for women under 30 since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee against Republican former President Donald Trump, according to a KFF poll of female voters.
Ballot initiatives surged in response to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that eliminated nationwide abortion rights and shifted the issue to the states.
Nine states will consider constitutional amendments that would enshrine abortion rights – Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota. Most would guarantee a right to abortion until the fetus is viable and allow it later if the pregnant woman’s health requires it.
An amendment proposed in New York does not specifically mention abortion but would ban discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive health care and autonomy.”
Some participants at Saturday’s rally also advocated for LGBTQ+ rights, higher wages, paid unwell leave and greater efforts against gun violence.
