Random Lengths News has captured the pivotal second half of Obama’s speech on Oct. 26. In it, she addresses women’s bodily autonomy with an unprecedented level of truth and conviction, delivering a message that resonates powerfully in the public sphere like never before.
— Editors have posted the dynamic speech given by Obama which you can find in its entirety here: https://www.randomlengthsnews.com/archives/2024/10/29/obama-rallies-for-harris/59468
“… And finally y’all, who could possibly think that this man (Trump) would care more about our men and boys more than Kamala Harris? And while we’re at it I want to think about who do you think possibly would care more about our reproductive health? And I just want to take a moment with this particular question because there is so much that gets lost in the conversation about women’s reproductive rights and I want the men in the arena to bear with me on this because there’s more at stake than just protecting a woman’s choice to give birth. And sadly we as women and and girls have not been socialized to talk openly about our reproductive health. We’ve been taught instead to feel shame and to hide how our bodies work. Some young girl [is] in her puberty not knowing what to expect. Too many of us suffer with severe cramps and nausea for days on in every single month and then on the other end of the reproductive timeline too, many women my age have no idea what’s going on with our bodies as we battle through menopause and debilitating hot flashes and depression. See fellas, most of us women, we suck up our pain and we deal with it alone. We don’t share our experiences with anyone, not with our partners, or our friends, or even our doctors. Look, a woman’s body is complicated business y’all. Yes it brings life and that’s a beautiful thing but even when we are not bearing children there is so much that can go wrong at any moment. Every woman here knows what I’m talking about, an unexpected lump, an abnormal pap smear or mammogram, an infection, a blockage, all of which could be early signs of a variety of life-threatening cancers and and in those terrifying moments when something goes wrong y’all, which will happen at some point to the vast majority of women in this country, let me tell you it feels like the floor falls out from under us in those moments. All we have to rely on is our medical system in those dark moments. All we have to rely on is our faith, in a higher power and the experience of doctors to get us the care we need in a timely manner and look, I don’t expect any man to fully grasp how vulnerable this makes us feel to understand the complexities of our reproductive health experiences. In all honesty, most of us as women don’t fully understand the bread and depth of our own reproductive lives, you know? And that’s because our experiences are often neglected by science. Yeah, there’s a huge disparity in research funding for women’s health and if you happen to look like me and report pain, you’re more likely to be ignored even by your own doctor’s, studies show. So let me take a minute to help folks, especially the men in our lives, to get a better sense of what could happen if we keep dismantling parts of our reproductive care system piece by piece as Trump intends to do. 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. There are good reasons why so many women and physicians are horrified by what’s happened since Donald Trump’s justices overturned Roe v Wade we we’re seeing women scrambling across state lines to get the care they need. Just this week a major medical journal reported that after Roe was overturned, infant mortality in this country rose in large part because women are being forced to carry fetuses that won’t survive to term. One woman spent 22 days in jail on murder charges after she miscarried in her own bathroom. We are seeing doctors unsure if they can treat ectopic pregnancies, doctors being told they can’t treat a woman until she becomes so close to death that only a “life of the mother” exception will allow them to act. So just imagine the profound effects for all of us if Donald Trump wins this election in states that are already putting abortion bans into effect. His FDA could further outlaw patchwork systems of telehealth appointments and mail-order pills thereby eliminating the last remaining protections for women in those states. He could take actions that effectively ban abortion nationwide which would put all of us in danger no matter what state we live in. We will see more doctors hesitating or shying away from providing life-saving treatments because they are worried about being arrested. More medical students reconsidering even pursuing women’s health at all. More OBGYN clinics without enough doctors to meet demand closing their doors, leaving untold numbers of women in communities throughout this country without a place to go for basic gynecological care, which in turn will leave millions of us at risk of undiagnosed medical issues like cervical and uterine cancers. This is real.
So do you think Donald Trump is thinking about the consequences for the millions of women who will be living in medical deserts? Does anyone think he has the emotional maturity and foresight to come up with a plan to protect us y’all? We are teetering on the edge. Even before these state bans, America was already lagging behind every other wealthy nation on measures like maternal mortality and paid leave so we could be right back to the days before Roe, which many young people here don’t even remember. The days when abortion wasn’t as safe as it is today. The days when the number of mothers of color dying in childbirth was 30 to 40% higher than when it was under Roe.
So to the men who love us, let me just try to paint a picture of what it will feel like if America, the wealthiest nation on earth keeps revoking basic care from its women and how it will affect every single woman in your life. Your girlfriend could be the one in legal jeopardy if she needs a pill from out of state or overseas, or if she has to travel across state lines because the local clinic closed up. Your wife or mother could be the ones at higher risk of dying from undiagnosed cervical cancer because they have no access to regular gynecological care. Your daughter could be the one too terrified to call the doctor if she’s bleeding during an unexpected pregnancy. Your niece could be the one miscarrying in her bathtub after the hospital turned her away. And this will not just affect women, it will affect you and your sons. The devastating consequences of teen pregnancy won’t just be borne by young girls but also by the young men who are the fathers. They too will have their dreams of going to college. Their entire future is totally upended by an unwanted pregnancy. If you and your partner are expecting a child, you will be right by her side at the checkups terrified if her blood pressure is too high, or if there’s an issue with the placenta, or if the ultrasound shows that the embryo was implanted in the wrong place and the doctors aren’t sure that they can intervene to keep the woman you love safe. If your wife is shivering and bleeding on the operating room table during a routine delivery gone bad, her pressure dropping as she loses more and more blood, or some unforeseen infection spreads and her doctors aren’t sure if they can act, you will be the one praying that it’s not too late. You will be the one pleading for somebody, anybody to do something. And then there is the tragic but very real possibility that in the worst-case scenario, you just might be the one holding flowers at the funeral. You might be the one left to raise your children alone. See, these are just some of the ways women die during childbirth. And I don’t want to be a downer y’all but in many cases, there is no warning and things go bad very quickly. And when it happens every second of hesitation or delay can lead to devastating outcomes. So I am asking y’all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously. Please do not put our lives in the hands of politicians, mostly men, who have no clue or do not care about what we as women are going through. Who don’t fully grasp the broad-reaching health implications that their misguided policies will have on our healthcare outcomes. The only people who have standing to make these decisions are women with the advice of their doctors. We are the ones with the knowledge and experience to know what we need, so please, 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 let me tell you all, to think that the men that we love could be either unaware or indifferent to our plight is simply heartbreaking. It is a sad statement about our value as women in this world. It is both a setback in our quest for equity and a huge blow to our country’s standing as a world leader on issues of women’s health and gender equality. So fellas, before you cast your votes ask yourselves, what side of history do you want to be on? Now I recognize that there are a lot of angry, disillusioned people out there, upset with the slow pace of change and I get it. It is reasonable to be frustrated. 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. So are you as men prepared to look into the eyes of the women and children you love and tell them that you supported this assault on our safety?
And to the women listening, we have every right to demand that the men in our lives do better by us. We have to use our voices to make these choices clear to the men that we love. Our lives are worth more than their anger and disappointment. And we are more than just baby-making vessels. And if you are a woman who lives in a household of men that don’t listen to you or value your opinion, just remember that your vote is a private matter. Regardless of the political views of your partner, you get to choose you get to use your judgment and cast your vote for yourself and the women in your life. Remember, women standing up for what is best for us can make the difference in this election. So let us use our voices in these final days to make it plain to the men in our lives that we need to stand not with Trump but with us. We need them to vote for the only candidate in this race who will protect our lives. We need them to vote for Kamala Harris. Kamala, she will fight to restore our reproductive freedoms and defend our health. Kamala will fight for our access to life-saving 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. She will do this because she cares about the lives of people other than herself and that’s really what this election is about.
Michigan, this isn’t just about what we have an obligation to say no to, it’s about what we have the opportunity to say yes to. And we can elect someone who has the experience the character and the strength to look at all these challenges and still will see a brighter day on the other side. Kamala Harris will see us, all of us. Kamala Harris will listen to us, all of us. She will protect our freedom. She’ll stand up for all of our lives. She will have our backs for the folks trying to get ahead and those just trying to get by and in doing so, she will usher in a new generation of American leadership and send the ugliness of Donald Trump and his politics back where it belongs, the past. But Michigan, she cannot do any of this alone so I’m asking you, one last time, let us not just sit around and complain, let’s do something. If your brother or your son or boyfriend needs to hear your perspective, are you willing to talk to them? Are you willing to send a video of what I’ve just said? Are you willing to do something if you have an aunt who’s thinking about sitting this one out or voting for a third party? Are you willing to have an uncomfortable conversation? Are you willing to do something if you have an extra hour or extra weekend? Are you willing to knock on doors and talk to your neighbors? Are you willing to do something? Look Michigan, we’ve just got 10 more days to make it happen, 10 more days to wave goodbye to the incompetence and hatred and division, 10 more days to welcome in a leader with a character and the heart and the strength worthy of the office she seeks and worthy of the country that we all love. Michigan, let’s give Kamala everything we’ve got. Can we get this done? Can we get this done Michigan? We need you, every last one of you to get this done.
