A vote for Trump is a vote against women, says Michelle Obama to male voters in Michigan

Michelle Obama passionately urges voters to support Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, emphasizing the critical impact on women's rights.

Washington DC

In an emotional speech in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Saturday (October 26, 2024) evening, former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama called on men, undecided voters and those planning to sit up the election to vote for Vice President and Democratic candidate for the White House, Kamala Harris, warning them about the stark consequences of voting for her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

Ms. Obama addressed a packed stadium prior to Ms. Harris’s speech at the Wings Event Centre in the city of just over 70,000 residents in the crucial midwestern battleground state.

Specifically addressing men, the former first lady described in vivid detail the consequences of tightening restrictions on reproductive rights, as she warned men that there would be a general decline in women’s reproductive health, causing a range of consequences, from women bleeding to death during childbirth to their mothers and sisters being affected by undetected cervical cancer.

Mr. Trump had boasted that, through his appointment of three Supreme Court justices, he was responsible for overturning Roe versus Wade, which broadly protected a woman’s right to an abortion. Following the overturning of this legal precedent by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, a number of States have enacted or attempted to enact or have contemplated laws tightening access to not just abortions but in vitro fertilization (IVF) and contraceptives. Doctors and those helping a woman obtain an abortion could face criminal liability and jail time.

“This will not just affect women; it will affect you and your sons,” said Ms. Obama, directly addressing male voters.

“And look, I don’t expect any man to fully grasp how vulnerable this makes us feel or to understand the complexities of our reproductive health experiences. In all honesty, most of us as women don’t fully understand the breadth and depth of our own reproductive lives,” she added. Ms. Obama attributed this knowledge gap to a lack of research funding for women’s health.