At local polling locations across Amherst, Massachusetts, women voters expressed support for presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, largely due to her support for women’s rights and reproductive freedom, something that in their words, former President Donald Trump has lacked.
“Especially being a woman, some of the things he’s done, I definitely do not agree with,” Sofia Scholund, a Massachusetts voter from Hingham, said.
Since he first ran for office in 2016, Trump has been accused of sexual assault by 16 different women. In 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse against E. Jean Carroll. He has also received backlash for the various comments he has made about women, including attacks against Harris for her gender and racial identities.
Peter Vincent, a Hadley resident, said that he is aligned with Harris on abortion, explaining that a man should not make that sort of decision for a woman. “Trump is so disrespectful to women,” he said.
If Harris wins, she will be the first woman president of the United States. At the Democratic National Convention, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained that having a woman as president would be like breaking the “highest, hardest, glass ceiling.”
“I think it’s historic to see a Black and South Asian woman in the role, so this is definitely partly identity politics … so that kind of shaped who I was interested in voting for in the first place,” Anaamika Nair, a University of Massachusetts graduate student from California, said.
Harris has expressed support for restoring federal abortion protections, and stated in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention and echoed at her rallies that “when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom,” she would “proudly sign it.”
Trump has routinely taken pride for his part in getting Roe v. Wade overturned. His most consistent stance on the issue is that it should be left for individual states to decide but declined to comment on whether he voted for or against amending Florida’s current restrictions.
According to the Associated Press, “Trump snapped at a reporter, saying ‘you should stop talking about it,’” when asked about the ballot initiative while casting his vote on election day in Florida.
Trump’s appointment of three conservative justices to the supreme court during his term created the conservative majority needed to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, withdrawing federal abortion protections.
Merle Bruno of Hadley Massachusetts called the political lean of the current court “the biggest damage from the past Republican era.”
“Even if it wasn’t Harris I’d vote for the person who’s gonna be picking the next Supreme Court judges, that’s the only thing that matters … We’ve got to have a Democrat in there to choose the next Supreme Court.” Bruno said.
According to the New York Times, “Twenty-one states [have] ban[ned] abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade,” since 2022.
These restrictions have forced people to cross state lines to access abortion procedures. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “The share of all abortion patients who traveled out of state for care increased from 9 [percent] in 2020 to 17 [percent] in 2023.”
“[Harris] believes that you shouldn’t have to cross a border and not have the same rights … that’s something I really agree with,” said Scholund, who cast her vote for Harris.
For 10 states this election, the issue of abortion is present on the ballot questions. For states like Florida, Missouri or Arizona, where abortion is more heavily regulated, the outcomes of the ballot questions could result in a longer period of access to abortion for women.
“Living in Massachusetts, I know we don’t have to worry about that as much, but other women in other states [do].” Hadley Dasuta, a Massachusetts voter from Duxbury and Harris supporter, said.
Eve Neumann can be reached at [email protected]. Bella Astrofsky can be reached at [email protected].
