A call to resist wave of laws limiting abortions
Georgia politician Stacey Abrams and four of the Democratic women running for president have joined forces to rally resistance against the wave of restrictive anti-abortion laws moving through state legislatures.
In a video released Saturday afternoon on social media, Abrams, who lost a close race for governor of Georgia last year, along with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, urge people to support organizations that protect abortion rights.
It comes days after Alabama lawmakers approved, and the governor signed, what is being called the most restrictive abortion bill in the country, banning the procedure in almost all instances, includ- ing for victims of rape or incest. On Friday, Missouri lawmakers passed a similar law that bans abortions after eight weeks.
“Right now, across the South and around the country, a woman’s right to control her own body and a doctor’s ability to give the health care we deserve is under attack,” Abrams says at the beginning of the oneminute video. Then the other women weigh in: Gillibrand: “Women deserve the right to make decisions about their own bodies.”
Harris: “But in state after state, those rights are under attack. So we need your help.”
Klobuchar: “Please support organizations that protect the right to safe, legal abortions.”
Warren: “Join us in this fight for Women’s Rights, in the courts and at the ballot box.
Abrams, who has said that she also is considering running for president, has been an outspoken critic of the antiabortion legislation, starting with a bill passed in March by Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature. The bill, which was signed in early May by Gov. Brian Kemp, bans abortion after a doctor can detect a fetus’ heartbeat, usually about six weeks.
Some Hollywood actors have called for a boycott of the state, where the film and entertainment industry is a major source of economic activity.
But Abrams has said that boycott would hurt working Georgians and called instead for people to support organizations engaged in fighting to keep abortion legal.
State lawmakers and antiabortion activists have said their goal is to force the issue up to the conservative-leaning Supreme Court in the hope of overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, but with provisions for women’s health and prenatal care.
The video was produced by Fair Fight Action, the political action committee that Abrams launched late last year to challenge laws that she says restrict voting rights.
Fair Fight has been raising money for abortion rights groups in Georgia.