Sadiq Khan has criticised Donald Trump in a new video in which he calls out the spate of abortion bans spreading across the US and urges men and boys to “be feminists too”.
The president arrived in the UK on Monday 3 June for a three-day state visit alongside his family, prompting nationwide protests among those who oppose his policies.
To coincide with the visit, the London Mayor addressed Trump directly in a short clip for ELLE UK, arguing that the US leader's views are completely at odds with those upheld by the British people.
“What we are seeing in the USA is a rolling back of the reproductive rights of women,” Khan said of the restrictive abortion policies that have recently passed in conservative states such as Ohio, and Alabama, where legislation was passed to ban terminations in nearly all circumstances, including rape and incest.
“We’ve got a situation now where some states in the USA are making it almost impossible for women to have the right to an abortion,” Khan continued.
“One only has to look at the history books to realise the consequences of women not having the right to choose over their own bodies.”
The former Labour MP for Tooting added that society cannot afford to return to dangerous “backstreet abortions”, referencing women who perform terminations themselves without medical supervision.
"We respect women. And we think they're equal to men," he added shortly after describing diversity as a "strength, not a weakness".
Khan concluded his powerful video by calling on men and boys to stand up for gender equality.
“All of us should be feminist, and that means men and boys too,” he said.
“If you believe it’s wrong that women earn less than men, if you believe it’s wrong that women are still discriminated against in 2019, then you are a feminist.”
