Michelle Obama just called out all men while speaking at a weekend rally in Michigan for Vice President Kamala Harris.
She begged and pleaded with them while talking about abortion care, and that’s because men — especially white men — are far more likely to vote for Donald Trump and against women’s needs and safety.
So, during her speech, Michelle Obama urged men to take women’s lives seriously, saying, “Please do not hand our fates over to the likes of Trump, who knows nothing about us, who has shown deep contempt for us. Because a vote for him is a vote against us, against our health, against our worth.”
And that’s because Roe v. Wade reduced the maternal mortality rates for people of color by over 30% after making abortions safe and legal. And since Trump overturned Roe, the infant mortality rate has risen by 7%, partly because birthing people are being forced to carry fetuses that won’t survive to term.
So this “issue” is so much more than just abortion access, as Michelle Obama explained: “I want folks to understand the chilling effect not just on critical abortion care, but on the entirety of women’s health. All of it.”
Michelle Obama also talked about how, in some states, doctors and birthing people are fearful of being prosecuted for providing or receiving this care. She also spoke about Amari Marsh, who, while in college, suffered a miscarriage and was charged with murder because of it. She spent 22 days in a South Carolina jail and faced 20 years to life in prison.
Michelle, who famously hates politics, addressed the fact that change takes far too long to see in government, which can be both frustrating and disheartening. But the stakes are too high to not vote or to vote in protest: “We all know we have a lot more work to do in this country. But to anyone out there thinking about sitting out this election or voting for Donald Trump or a third-party candidate in protest because you’re fed up, let me warn you: Your rage does not exist in a vacuum. If we don’t get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.”
And that’s because banning abortions will not prevent abortions; it simply prevents safe abortions. And Kamala Harris, as Michelle Obama noted, is actively fighting to protect the people in your life who are most affected by this: “She will fight to restore our reproductive freedoms and defend our health. Kamala will fight for our access to lifesaving emergency care and maternal care in every state. Kamala will veto any abortion ban or bill that restricts access to contraception or IVF. Kamala will expand access to birth control and abortion pills. And she will do all of this not because she’s a woman, but because she’s a decent human being.”
Her entire speech is nearly 40 minutes long, but below is the 12-minute portion where she specifically addresses abortion access and calls for men to ask themselves what side of history they want to be on before casting their vote.
View this video on YouTube
CNN / youtube.com
Election Day is on Nov. 5. For polling information and to see if your state allows early in-person voting, you can visit vote.org.
