2022 GA Governor's race: on Abortion
Brian Kemp:
Signed fetal heartbeat bill, tax deductions for fetuses
Kemp signed legislation banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. That can be as early as six weeks, before many women know they're pregnant. Kemp said he was signing the bill "to ensure that all Georgians have the opportunity to live,
grow, learn and prosper in our great state." The bill also deals with alimony, child support and even income tax deductions for fetuses, declaring that "the full value of a child begins at the point when a detectable human heartbeat exists."
Source: NBC News/Associated Press on 2022 Georgia Gubernatorial race
May 7, 2019
Vernon Jones:
Opposed anti-abortion "heartbeat" bill enacted in Georgia
Jones must answer for a long history of controversy in public office that includes allegations of sexual assault that he has denied,
along with votes that could alienate Republicans such as Jones' opposition to a strict anti-abortion "heartbeat" measure that Kemp signed into law in 2019.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution on 2022 Georgia Governor race
Apr 16, 2021
Shane Hazel:
Supports bodily autonomy & right to health privacy
[GOP Gov. Brian] Kemp has touted signing the "toughest abortion ban in the nation," Georgia's "heartbeat bill" (HB 481) in 2019. The new law went into effect this year and essentially prohibits abortions once a fetal heart beat is detected, which
proponents argue is typically about six weeks of pregnancy. The new law has exceptions for rape and incest if a police report is filed.Kemp has vowed to continue to fight for life, while [Democratic opponent Stacey] Abrams argues that women should
have the freedom to make their own medical decisions and that forcing women to carry a pregnancy places women at risk of poverty and maternal mortality, especially as Georgia is in the top five states with the highest maternal deaths. Abrams plans to
increase availability of Plan B and emergency contraceptives, if elected.
Hazel, though not clearly defined on his website, appears to support bodily autonomy and states, "You have a right to your health. You have a right to health privacy."
Source: The Hill on 2022 Georgia Gubernatorial race
Oct 8, 2022
Stacey Abrams:
Georgia law would investigate women for miscarriage
This law, as it stands right now, will investigate women for miscarriage or for pregnancy loss. It tells women that they are in danger of going to jail if they are found to have committed some type of feticide against -- essentially, if they are
drinking a glass of wine, because we have now granted personhood. We do not know what this law means. That means that women are in danger. They're in danger of losing their liberties. They're in danger of not having health care.
Source: CNN SOTU interviews on 2022 Georgia Gubernatorial race
Aug 7, 2022
Stacey Abrams:
Rights should be sacrosanct regardless of state lines
A majority of Georgians rejected the notion of overturning Roe v. Wade. What is more concerning to me though is the notion that our constitutional rights and bodily autonomy that women for 50 years have come to rely on will now be subject to state by
state imprimatur rather than being governed by a federal notion that no matter who you are, no matter where you live, we live in the United States and our ability to control our bodies should be sacrosanct regardless of state lines.
Source: Fox News Sunday on 2022 Georgia Governor race
Jun 26, 2022
Stacey Abrams:
Politicians are not scientists, don't set arbitrary limits
You do it by not setting arbitrary, gestational limits, that rarely reflect medical decision making. This is a medical decision. When we tell women and their doctors to make these choices, we are saying we respect the responsibility that women have
and the obligation that doctors have. That politicians are not scientists. We should not be setting into law these moving targets that do not reflect the reality that women face when they're sitting in that doctor's office.
Source: Meet the Press on 2022 Georgia Gubernatorial race
Aug 7, 2022
Page last updated: Feb 14, 2023