Abortion rights at forefront of Women’s March rallies in runup to Election Day

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of women rallied Saturday in the nation’s capital and elsewhere in support of abortion rights and other feminist causes ahead of Tuesday’s election.

Demonstrators carried posters and signs through city streets, chanting slogans such as “We won’t go back.” Some men joined with them. Speakers urged people to vote in the election — not only for president but also on down-ballot issues such as abortion-rights amendments that are going before voters in various states.

At the Women’s March in Washington, feminist activist Fanny Gomez-Lugo read off a list of states with abortion ballot measures before leading the crowd in a chant of “Abortion is freedom!”

In Kansas City, Missouri, rally organizers urged people to sign up to knock on doors in a get-out-the-vote push for an abortion-rights measure.

Abortion rights has passed inflation as the top issue in the presidential election for women under age 30 since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee against Republican former President Donald Trump, according to a survey of female voters by KFF.

Ballot initiatives have surged in response to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended the nationwide right to abortion and shifted the issue to states.

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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 fetal viability and allow it later if necessary for the health of the pregnant woman.

A proposed amendment in New York doesn’t specifically mention abortion but would prohibit discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes” and “reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”

Some of Saturday’s rally participants also advocated for LGBTQ+ rights, higher wages, paid sick leave and greater efforts against gun violence.