US Elections: Trump Wins in Blow to Reproductive Rights

• Reporters: Seif Shaheen and Roba Hussein

A central issue that divided many Democrats and Republicans ahead of the U.S. elections was abortion. It just may have been the factor that tipped the scales in favor of former President Donald Trump winning a historic return to the White House.

According to a USATODAY poll just weeks before millions of Americans headed to the ballot box, abortion and immigration were some of the most important problems that created a gap between both parties. These issues were highly important to 84 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of Republicans.

A survey conducted by CBSNews showed that the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris had 55 percent of her support from women, while Donald Trump had 54 percent of support from men, which aligns with his Republican and conservative views. What’s very interesting is that more than half of the respondents believed that abortion was a major factor in their vote, which caused major differences between both parties.

Republicans generally hold a conservative view on abortion and reproductive rights. They support any restrictions that allow abortions and are pro-life. They also tend to promote traditional family values and limit any governmental inclusion in reproductive decisions. They resist any side of hormone therapy for minors to undergo gender transitions.

Democrats, on the other hand, usually support reproductive rights which includes access to abortion and contraception. They advocate for policies that support women’s healthcare systems and push for gender equality. They also support minors that are willing to go through hormone therapy to change genders.

This year’s election, said to be one of the most important elections in U.S. history, had Americans vote as to whether to enshrine the right to abortion into their state constitutions.

Missouri along with Colorado, New York, and Maryland all passed measures and voted to protect abortion rights. This sets them in stone as blue states (Democratic).

Meanwhile Florida didn’t amend its abortion ban, and remained a red state (Republican). Arizona still offers the additional opportunities to overturn the bans made in June of 2022.

Mariam Fouad, a double major in psychology and theater and an American, believes that reproductive rights were one of the most critical issues in the upcoming election. To her, the debate around abortion is not just a policy question. It’s a matter of bodily autonomy and a woman’s right to make decisions about her own health and future.

“I do not think that men should have the right to make decisions about women’s bodies. I do not think it’s right to force survivors of rape to carry a baby long term”

As someone who supports the right to choose, Fouad feels strongly that personal decisions should not be dictated by others. “It’s not any of my business if someone wants to get an abortion. Just because you would not get one does [not] mean that everybody has to abide by your standards and rules for yourself,” Fouad added.

Fouad voted for Harris, though she knows it’s not a perfect choice. For her, this election is about choosing the option that’s less harmful.

“Kamala Harris is definitely not the best person, but in this case, it’s choosing the lesser of two evils,” she said.

For Fouad, the stakes are deeply personal. The outcome of the election will determine whether she feels her rights and those of millions of other women are safe.

“They are not ideal candidates or people, but I just have to weigh the pros vs. the cons, and Trump has many many many more cons than Harris does,” Fouad added.

Journalism Professor Kim Fox, meanwhile, acknowledges the fact that abortion is a major factor in swaying the opinions of many voters, but says “it should be framed as reproductive rights.”

She added that sometimes women have difficult pregnancies and that “you are putting the women who are normally healthy and the baby at risk.”

Fox also believes that reproductive rights are factors that are impactful for all demographics.

Republicans are very patriarchal, she says, and she doesn’t want men telling her what to do.

Fox voted for Harris, “the lesser of the two evils.”

The poignancy of the abortion issue and reproductive rights played out during a debate at AUC hosted and moderated by CASAR Assistant to Director and Adjunct Faculty Yasmeen El-Ghazaly just a week before the U.S. elections. Students were asked to choose whether they would have voted Democrat or Republican based on the parties’ positions on reproductive rights.

Habiba El Tantawy, an undeclared freshman, opened up the debate with her own views on this issue: “I believe that the decision is obvious, and I believe it should be the woman’s choice.”

She goes on to say that “some man shouldn’t be able to dictate your life.”

A student in the audience responded “but you’re now killing a life,” to which El Tantawy did not comment.

Abdelrahman Sheriff, an MA student in Sustainable Development, proposed a balanced view, supporting arguments from both sides. “The assumption that men don’t have a say in this, I think, is false…the assumption that it is men vs women negates and invalidates the fact that there are many pro-life women out there.”

He goes on to say that “pregnancy is a human condition, and that it just happens by the laws of biology that the woman is getting pregnant, but at the end of the day it’s a human condition that men are part of.”

Sheriff also doesn’t think religion plays a role in that issue and says that an atheist woman may still argue against abortion.

When asked by the moderator about which party he’d vote for, Sheriff said neither and that he would rather support the independent green party instead.

Laila El-Sabee, an undeclared freshman at AUC, explained that being pro-choice doesn’t necessarily mean being pro-abortion. “I’m a woman, and I don’t think I would want to have an abortion myself.”

She also mentioned that she doesn’t want anyone telling her what she should do with her body and wants the freedom to make that choice.