New York: US Republican Mary Miller, speaking at a rally with former President Donald Trump, called the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v Wade a “victory for white life”.

Miller’s spokesman said the Illinois Republican had intended to say the decision was a victory for a “right to life”. The line as delivered was out of step with the disproportionate impact the repeal of abortion rights will have on women of colour.

Miller is running for re-election in the state’s newly redrawn 15th Congressional District against GOP Rep. Rodney Davis with the former president’s blessing. She had been invited on stage to speak by Trump, who held the rally in Mendon, Illinois, to turn out the vote ahead of the state’s Tuesday primary.

“President Trump, on behalf of all the MAGA patriots in America, I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday,” she said on Saturday night (US time), drawing cheers from the crowd.

Miller spokesman Isaiah Wartman told The Associated Press that it was “a mix-up of words.”

“You can clearly see in the video ... she’s looking at her papers and looking at her speech,” Wartman said.

Her campaign noted that she is the grandmother of several nonwhite grandchildren, including one with Down syndrome.

The freshman congresswoman, who was among those who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, previously came under criticism for quoting Adolf Hitler.