As we’ve reported, President Trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists when he signed an executive order on Thursday – less than a week since he returned to the White House.
The 2024 US presidential election was the first since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which protected the national right to an abortion.
A few days before the election the BBC spoke to women voters about abortion and gender – the issues that figured prominently during the campaigning.
Michelle Allen, a 38-year-old engineer from Arizona who is a registered Republican, said she was “concerned about women’s rights and women’s health care”.
“I’m not a one-issue voter, but that is a huge one. I work in the medical sector and I was very personally affected by the overturn of Roe v Wade because I wasn’t able to get access to a lot of the drugs I needed. Nobody was sure of what the legality was… even though they’re used for other things.”
Angela Richardson, a 27-year-old graduate student in Iowa backing the Democrats, said: “Obviously abortion is a huge issue that needs to be addressed.
“But I’m not necessarily happy, I should say, with either candidate’s [Donald Trump and Kamala Harris] approaches in addressing the issue.”
Abigail Burke, a 38-year-old independent voter in Florida, said: “Reproductive rights for women are huge for me as a woman.
“I really want to support a party that’s going to support reproductive rights for women and not just women, but for everybody, because what’s to say it’s not going to spread elsewhere? It starts with women, usually, but it goes on and on.”
