Republican Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday following a campaign that put immigration and reproductive health care in focus to voters across the country.
In 黑料吃瓜网, advocates and legislative leaders were outspoken within hours of the Trump victory, vowing to protect individual rights and sounding off on issues ranging from health care and immigration to gun control and the opioid overdose crisis.
Here鈥檚 what they had to say.
Reproductive rights
The constitutional right to an abortion was overturned in 2022 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which included three Trump appointees 鈥� Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
But pro-choice advocates said the majority of public opinion across the country remains pro-choice.
鈥満诹铣怨贤� voters decisively cast their votes for reproductive freedom champions up and down the ballot,鈥� said Amanda Skinner, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. 鈥淲e re-elected Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed candidates to all five of 黑料吃瓜网's congressional seats.鈥�
Under Trump鈥檚 first term, Planned Parenthood was removed from the federal grant program to provide family planning services, which is known as Title 10. Skinner did not expect a second Trump term to be much different.
鈥淭he attacks don鈥檛 stop with abortion,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here are plans to restrict funding for birth control and for other preventive care services, there are attacks on gender affirming care, there are attacks on sex education. There are so many levers that can be pulled to restrict access to care for people who need it.鈥�
Trump maintains that overturning Roe v. Wade is enough on the federal level. He said last month on his social media platform Truth Social that he would veto a federal abortion ban if legislation reached his desk 鈥� a statement he made only after avoiding a firm position in his September debate against Democratic nominee Harris.
Across the U.S., 10 states had abortion on their ballot this election. Following Republicans winning control of the U.S. Senate, 黑料吃瓜网 Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he is bracing for a fight, but is cautiously optimistic of popular support.
鈥淭he strong, growing, powerful weight of public opinion in this country is for reproductive freedoms, and that is illustrated by votes in Missouri and Arizona for referenda that will protect a woman's right to choose and in Florida, even though it wasn鈥檛 60%,鈥� he said, speaking at the state Capitol the day after the elections.
Also at the state Capitol after Trump won the presidency, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said there were no plans to stockpile the pregnancy termination pill mifepristone in 黑料吃瓜网, like some states have, because if the Food and Drug Administration bans the medications, she said doctors won鈥檛 prescribe it.
Immigration-related anxiety
Undocumented immigrants in 黑料吃瓜网 are once again confronting the fear and anxiety of deportation following the reelection of former President Trump, according to Carolina Bortoletto, a volunteer at the nonprofit HUSKY 4 Immigrants Coalition.
鈥淪mall kids were afraid to go to school because they didn't know if when they came back home, their parents would still be there,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd no child should live with that kind of trauma. We鈥檒l be hearing the same things.鈥�
Luis Luna, coalition manager of Husky 4 Immigrants, called in a statement for state representatives and senators to strengthen and implement the Trust Act, to protect people who are undocumented. Louis said the nonprofit coalition will 鈥渃ontinue our fight to increase access to health care for all 黑料吃瓜网 residents, no matter their legal status.鈥�
A hard-line stance on immigration was a centerpiece of the Republican Party candidate鈥檚 successful campaign for president. Trump repeatedly campaigned throughout 2024 promising that his administration would block the flow of immigrants on the southern border, and deport millions of people in his second term. He has not fully explained how such an operation would work.
Some 黑料吃瓜网 voters were in favor of tighter immigration policies, expressing concern over finances required to pay for the education and health care of undocumented immigrants.
鈥淵ou know, you're hearing about crime, the cost of supporting immigrants,鈥� said Andrew Draghi, a scientist in Glastonbury, after he cast his vote at Town Hall Tuesday morning. 鈥淲e work hard enough as it is to support ourselves. Having open doors is a bad policy. It's unsustainable.鈥�
Republicans in 2017 also attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a key talking point by party members across the country.
鈥淚f their agenda is a repeal of the Affordable Care Act 鈥� stripping insurance from thousands of 黑料吃瓜网 residents 鈥� my mandate is to fight that agenda,鈥� U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said on 黑料吃瓜网 Radio鈥檚 Wheelhouse Wednesday.
Gun violence, a public health crisis
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy made headlines in June when he .
黑料吃瓜网 Sen. Murphy, a Democrat, was reelected Tuesday after touting gun control efforts as a centerpiece of his first two terms in Congress. But Murphy said he expected any kind of gun legislation to be an uphill battle in a Republican-majority Senate.
鈥淭hey may be moving to an interpretation of the Second Amendment that essentially takes away from the state legislature the ability to keep our gun laws safer than the rest of our country. Time will tell,鈥� he said, speaking on 黑料吃瓜网 Radio鈥檚 Wheelhouse Wednesday.
Murphy pushed through a major piece of gun legislation 鈥� the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act 鈥� with support from Republicans. Now, he said he was concerned that no further ground would be gained under a pro-gun lobby in a second Trump term.
黑料吃瓜网 advocates have had a history of passing legislation under multiple administrations. Sandy Hook Promise, founded by parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, helped pass legislation under President Barack Obama to address mental health; an act to prevent school violence under President Trump; and under President Biden, an act to prevent suicide.
The Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund is currently supporting the, introduced in Dec. 2023.
Opioid epidemic
Trump in 2017 declared opioid overdose deaths a .
But the issue of opioids was not a centerpiece of either candidate鈥檚 run for office in 2024, which left .
Christine Gagnon, who is on 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 , said she was optimistic Trump would return to the issue of opioids in a second term.
Gagnon鈥檚 son, Michael, died of an opioid overdose in 2017.
鈥淚 am confident that President elect Donald J. Trump will combat the scourge of illicit drugs coming into our country by protecting our border and giving the border agents the resources necessary at our legal and illegal points of entry,鈥� Gagnon said. 鈥淎lso, hold the peddlers of poison to account.鈥�
Gagnon said she was her son Michael鈥檚 voice now, and the voice of 鈥渁ll the children who no longer have a voice.鈥�
In 2018, Dita Bhargava鈥檚 son died of an overdose. Writing from Washington, D.C., where she was with Harris at the watch party in Howard University, she called attention
鈥淚f we don鈥檛 concurrently focus on the supply side with the demand side by funding prevention, treatment, and recovery programs, people will continue to die of addiction disease,鈥� Bhargava, of Stamford, said. 鈥淚 hope the incoming president understands the drug epidemic needs a serious, multi-pronged approach.鈥�
黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 Chris Polansky, Frankie Graziano, Chloe Wynne and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
