US women cross Mexico border to seek abortions after states ban procedure

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00:00Six days and counting before election day, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are on the

00:08campaign trail, crisscrossing several swing states, passing each other in Wisconsin, with

00:14the former president scheduled to appear in Green Bay with a one-time local icon, the

00:19retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

00:22Meanwhile, with Kamala Harris, there will be Mumford & Sons, Gracie Abrams, Remy Wolfe,

00:27and members of the band The National, all expected to appear at her rally in Madison.

00:33Now in June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a landmark ruling that gave women access to

00:40abortion.

00:41Since then, many states have banned access to the procedure, even in cases of rape.

00:47For hundreds of women, the only alternative has been to cross the border and undergo the

00:52procedure and abortion in Mexico.

00:55This report by Conde Duval and Laurence Cuvillier.

01:11These are the words that this Mexico City gynaecologist repeats dozens of times a week.

01:17Today Sandra has come from Houston, Texas to have an abortion.

01:21In her state, it's completely illegal.

01:24I just don't feel like it's right, because it's taking the choice away from the woman

01:29to be able to do what she wants to do with her body.

01:34After an hour of surgery, the young woman was finally released.

01:38To have him support that choice, it's a huge part, because I'm not in it by myself.

01:46And I know some people don't have that, and they're in it alone, and they have to come

01:53through this alone.

01:54It's very difficult.

01:56In a move that goes against the grain of the US, Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalised

02:00abortion in September 2023.

02:04Since then, 15 states have legalised it.

02:07Across the country, feminist collectives have come together to support American women.

02:12In Monterrey, 200 kilometres from the US border, Sandra Cardona and Vanessa Jimenez welcome

02:18these women into their houses, or send them kits to carry out their abortion at home.

02:31It's impossible to mail medicines to the US.

02:34Using a cross-border solidarity network, the two women managed to get the kits to the patient's

02:39home.

02:40We've had American volunteers tell us, I want to help.

02:45I regularly cross the border between Mexico and the US.

02:49I can smuggle these medicines and send them to those who need them.

02:54With just days before the US election, abortion is at the heart of the campaign, and an issue

03:00of great social tension.

03:03Let's go straight to Washington.

03:05Our correspondent Fraser Jackson is waiting for us, joining us live.

03:08Fraser, good evening to you.

03:09This issue of abortion rights is massive in this election.

03:13Tell us more.

03:14Yeah, it really is, and it's a massive issue with one particular section of the population

03:20as well, who could prove pivotal.

03:22That is young women under the age of 30.

03:24A recent poll found that this is their top issue, which is overtaking the economy, inflation

03:31and immigration.

03:32So a key theme there for those younger voters, and also for women in general.

03:39When you widen that out, we look at one poll from the New York Times that came out at the

03:43end of August, so very early into Kamala Harris' tenure as the Democratic nominee.

03:49That poll took place across those battleground states that this election is going to be won

03:53or lost in.

03:54And they found that the amount of women who said that abortion was their top issue was

04:0022%, that up from 17% in the same poll in May.

04:05And that was polling just behind the economy, which was at 24%.

04:09So 22% of women there saying that abortion is their top issue.

04:12When they asked the men the same question, it was just 6%.

04:16So 34% of the men surveyed in that poll said that the economy was their top issue.

04:21Well, Democrats are trying to change that.

04:23This has been a key argument in their election campaign, and they're bringing out some of

04:28the big guns to try to make men realize that abortion rights and reproductive rights for

04:33women are also a male issue.

04:35They've been using some of their biggest surrogates to get this across, including Michelle Obama,

04:41who focused a recent speech in Michigan on abortion rights and addressed, quote,

04:45the men who love us.

04:47Take a listen.

04:48Look, a woman's body is complicated business, y'all.

04:54So please, please do not hand our fates over to the likes of Trump, who knows nothing about

05:02us, who has shown deep contempt for us.

05:07Because a vote for him is a vote against us, against our health, against our worth.

05:17Let me warn you, your rage does not exist in a vacuum.

05:22If we don't get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women

05:29will become collateral damage to your rage.

05:34Well, she backed that up with an op-ed in The New York Times on Monday featuring some

05:38quite graphic language trying to really make it hit home.

05:42But she said your wife and mother could be the ones at higher risk of dying from cervical

05:46cancer because they have no access to regular gynecological care.

05:51So Michelle Obama and the Democrats trying to get out the vote on abortion, which has

05:56proven to be something that's been quite popular for them in the last couple of months.

06:00It's funny in the United States, isn't it, Fraser, the system there.

06:03Trump appointed three Supreme Court judges during his tenure from 2017 to 2021, banning

06:10abortion one of his policies.

06:11And obviously having those three voices that he'd selected, Republicans all, clearly helped

06:18in getting the decision through the Supreme Court.

06:22It definitely helped getting it through the Supreme Court, but it hasn't helped the Republicans

06:25in the polls since then.

06:26Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, every time abortion bans have been on the

06:32ballot, they have lost.

06:33And we're including some key, very deep red states like Kentucky and Kansas, not exactly

06:40liberal bastions by any stretch of the imagination, and even abortion bans there that were going

06:44to be written into law did not fail the votes in the midterms.

06:49So it has been a bad issue for the Republicans.

06:54And Donald Trump is aware of that.

06:56He's tried to kind of distance himself somewhat from that abortion stance.

07:02He's flip-flopped on it in the last couple of months.

07:06At one point, he was asked during the debate, in the presidential debate against Kamala

07:10Harris, whether if he got into office he would sign a federal abortion ban.

07:15And he said that he wouldn't need to.

07:17Well, then the moderator pushed back and said, well, your vice president, J.D. Vance, said

07:21that you would veto any national ban that got put on your desk.

07:26And Trump responded saying, well, actually, I haven't, frankly, spoken to J.D. about that.

07:31So he's tried to kind of shy away from this.

07:34And the Democrats are trying to seize on that by also highlighting the fact that Donald

07:39Trump could potentially get to appoint another one or two Supreme Court justices were he

07:45to win the election this time around, which would mean that it would be then a five, well,

07:50even more a five, four majority on the Supreme Court, which, of course, that would mean that

07:56that would shape the court for the foreseeable future.

07:59So Democrats also using that as part of their argument.

08:03But Donald Trump insisting that he is the right person for the job for women.

08:08He's called himself the father of IVF and said that women won't have to worry should

08:12he be elected president once again.

08:14Indeed.

08:15Donald Trump says certain things and certain things go the opposite way, it seems.

08:19It's interesting that he and J.D. Evans have, it seems, differing views on this incredibly

08:23important issue.

08:25Fraser, as always, thank you very much indeed.

08:27Fraser Jackson, busy himself with all matters to do with the U.S. presidential election

08:31and bring us all the updates as they happen.

08:33And we'll continue to chart all the developments between now and voting day, November the 5th.

08:44Time now for Focus.

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