These women voters say abortion decided their votes

The 2024 presidential election is the first since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which protected the national right to abortion.

The gender divide is stark in this election, with polls suggesting Kamala Harris has an advantage among women and former President Donald Trump enjoys a similar lead among men.

The BBC has been talking to female voters about their views on gender and abortion as they cast their ballots in the final days of the campaign.

Michelle works as a quality engineer in Arizona. The 38-year-old is a registered Republican, but plans to vote for Kamala Harris.

I am concerned about women’s rights and women’s health care. I’m not a single issue voter, but that’s huge. I work in the medical field and was very affected by the overturning of Roe v Wade because I could not get many of the medications I needed. No one was sure what the legality was… although they were used for other things.

The whole state of the Republic is small government and don’t let the government make my personal decisions, so why are they trying to legislate what a woman can do with her body?

[A Harris presidency] it would mean that all the things my parents told me when I was young were true – just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you’re limited.

This Texas nurse voted for Trump during the last presidential election and plans to support him again.

[Trump] He said things that he probably shouldn’t have said. I’ll have to shake my finger at that, especially as a woman, but I haven’t heard anything that would change my mind about my vote.

I don’t vote for humanity. I am a voting principle. I don’t have to marry a man. I don’t have to face him. I have to deal with his goals.

In abortion, [Harris] it does not provide a pregnancy parameter for how late a person can have an abortion. That cannot be opened completely. I was in the NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] nurse for 17 years… I care about women’s rights. I care about women. My mother is the first patient. However, that’s a turn off for me that he can’t give an answer to that.

This Democrat from Illinois plans to vote for Harris on election day. He previously supported the Democratic Alliance ticket in 2020, voting for Joe Biden.

I’m really concerned about the way reproductive rights are going in certain parts of the country. I feel like Trump’s communication efforts understand why [reproductive rights] An important issue for women has fallen woefully short.

I think Harris has an intrinsic understanding of the importance of it, just being a woman and a woman of color. Would I like him to put his plans on hold to expand reproductive rights? Definitely. But Trump has set the tone so low that he can keep saying it and he’ll be doing a better job.

[A Harris presidency] tears come to my eyes just thinking about it. I have a nine-year-old daughter and she is old enough to start having ambitions and start paying attention to the world around her.

The librarian voted for Trump in 2020, but now she’s undecided and considering “write-in” a candidate — voting for someone who isn’t officially running.

This is not my first rodeo and I have reached a point in my life where I can look past the advertising they do for two specific teams.

It’s amazing that we have Harris as a woman running for president and she’s been vice president and she has some experience. But Trump, when he was in office, I didn’t feel bad about what he was doing.

I don’t mind having a woman president but some of Harris’s political teachings and what I think are good ones don’t add up.

Angela is a graduate student at Iowa. A Democrat, he supported Biden in the last presidential election and plans to vote for Harris.

I would really like this to be a moment of celebration as we elect a woman of color to our highest office, but it’s unfortunate how strong the election is against Trump and how disappointing it is. [Harris’s] the campaign was one of the most important things for me, it was difficult to celebrate as I would have liked.

Obviously abortion is a big issue that needs to be addressed, but I’m not happy at all, I have to say, with either candidate’s approach to this issue.

I understand that Harris has a policy when he wants to incorporate Roe v Wade, but I think that women’s rights and issues go beyond just getting an abortion. Trump is very dim on the issue of women’s rights, so it’s hard to pin him down on any stance.

This retired Republican plans to vote for Trump. He also supported the former president in 2020.

I think [Trump] it’s the only thing that can happen because I think Harris is ignorant and incompetent. I think he will be a disaster in this country, I just listen to his ear and avoid. I just have a horrible feeling about him.

I am pro-choice, actually, within reason. Not a late term abortion. I don’t agree with that. But I think Trump is really understating it [legislation] in the states themselves, you make sense.

Harris doesn’t have much to do so his biggest selling point is with women. He doesn’t have anything to say to her, in other words, so he just stirs it up with the abortion issue.

The independent voted for Biden in the 2020 presidential election and voted by mail this year in support of Harris.

Women’s reproductive rights are huge for me as a woman, especially living in the state of Florida where there is an amendment on the ballot that would guarantee the protection of abortion rights.

I really want to support a group that will support women’s reproductive rights not only for women, but for everyone, because why won’t it spread elsewhere? It starts in women, usually, but it goes on and on.

Our government is at least 50 years behind the times on many things – especially other countries around the world that have better representation. I have a niece that I love very much. The fact that he could see [a female president]and just for that to be normal for him, it will be great.

This independent voter from Georgia describes himself as left-leaning. Because of his faith and anti-abortion views, he is not supporting Harris or Trump this year.

I was actually going to vote for Harris, but then he started repeating twice that abortion is reproductive health… I’m Catholic. I am pro-life.

The problem I have is that I don’t know how any Catholic can vote for someone who cleans things up like what we have seen. [from Trump] at Madison Square Garden recently. I take command of the hospitality and feed and clothe much.

So under those circumstances, I have no one to vote for.

The retired Texas resident voted for Biden in the last presidential election and voted early in support of Harris.

I am very afraid. Actually we can’t go back. It scares me so much. I had more rights than my grandson will have in his future and that is not fair.

It’s disturbing that it’s so close. [Trump] he is out on bail. I don’t understand Republicans. They were law and order [party]it is said, and now this.

I think a lot [of women] they come out and say, ‘Why are you telling us what to do with our bodies?’ Abortion is a personal matter between the doctor and the woman. It’s not my business.

Ahead of election day, BBC Voter Voices is hearing from Americans across the country what is important to them.

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