Louise Luong, a registered nurse who’s helping to organize the march. “We are very aware that the president has done very serious stuff to affect women’s lives, so the idea to support him and that women feel welcome to participate is definitely worth standing for.”
She and other organizers said the marches would show solidarity amid the heated presidential campaign season that has pitted the two candidates for the White House, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, against one another. That has also exposed deep rifts on which campaign is more inclusive.
“We’ve seen our whole lives that men’s bodies are being touched by their political issues, whether it’s abortion policy, guns — all these issues that make women feel unsafe with this election,” said Luong. “We’re looking at them and saying, ‘You can’t just keep doing those things all the time.'”
Trump has called Clinton a “loser” in the race.
Miles is one of more than 20 members of the group marching from Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, about 35 miles west of New York City. Her own children are immigrants from Iran. She says that she is a mother of three, and one who doesn’t think she’s allowed to vote. If she does, she says she’s afraid she won’t have her voice.
“I think we all have different values,” said Miles. “We shouldn’t be the same in the U.S.”
Another participant, Michelle Hurd, told the Associated Press she opposes abortion, and supports Trump’s plan for a “temporary ban” on Muslim immigration. But she also noted that abortion is a central issue in American politics.
“I want to be a woman president. That’s what I’m here for,” said Hurd, 47, a dental hygienist.
Hurd got the abortion pills illegally when she was younger. And now she says she’s willing to support Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, through her efforts. She said she also planned to stand for abortion rights if she were voting for Trump.
“He’s a woman,” she said. “I don’t think he’s going to try to shut down all women’s healthcare anymore — not in America.”
Samantha Lewis, 52, a nurse who lives in the Bronx, came for her daughters.
“We just want to say, ‘You’ve got to vote for