CHARLY TRIBALLEAU AFP
Can a pledge to protect reproductive rights help Kamala Harris become the first woman to win the White House?
Abortion has never been so close to the heart of an American presidential election, but this is the first to be held after access to the procedure was banned or restricted across much of the country following a landmark Supreme Court ruling.
Ten states are holding referendums on the issue, and those questions will appear on the same ballots used to cast presidential votes.
The outcome could have profound implications, with the potential for restrictions affecting millions of women to be overturned. But Democrats also hope the issue will mobilize a broader swath of the electorate in their favour.
"Mobilization is typically what determines the outcome of an election," Samara Klar, a professor of political science at the University of Arizona, told AFP, noting that women voters in states where abortion was under threat helped the Democratic Party exceed expectations in the 2022 midterms.
Harris has made abortion a central theme of her campaign, repeatedly linking her opponent, former president Donald Trump, to tragic stories, such as women forced to cross state lines to terminate their life-threatening pregnancies.
"This is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect," the vice president said at a recent campaign stop in Georgia after it was revealed a woman died when medical care was delayed due to the state's restrictive abortion law.
During his term, Trump reshaped the Supreme Court, which in 2022 left the states to decide their own abortion policies by overturning Roe v. Wade -- and thus dismantling five decades of precedent protecting the procedure nationwide.
The Republican has consistently touted his role in this decision, yet he denies Democratic claims that he plans to pursue a national abortion ban, despite pressure from conservative scholars and activists for such an outcome.
In the wake of the Roe decision, Democrats have positioned themselves as the party of reproductive rights, with polls indicating that a majority of Americans support access to abortion.
Women, who vote in greater numbers than men in the United States, strongly favour Harris over Trump.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump has voiced strong support for abortion rights in her upcoming memoir, taking a stance that sharply contrasts with her Republican White House candidate husband Donald Trump on a divisive US election issue.
