Democrats vow Republicans will ‘pay the price’ for anti-abortion law
Democrats vow Republicans will ‘pay the price’ for anti-abortion law
July 21, 2022
Also in today’s edition of Swing State Georgia:
Herschel Walker favors a national abortion ban.
Rudy Giuliani is ordered to testify in Georgia.
Congress will hear from a Georgia gun manufacturer.
Georgians woke up to a new political landscape on Thursday after a federal appeals court ruling cleared the way for a state law to take effect which bans most abortions after about six weeks.
Democrats vowed to channel voter fury over the abortion restrictions into electoral energy, with talk of a surge to the polls, fresh legal challenges to the 2019 law and strategic defiance of its provisions.
“The reality is this is a gift for us,” said Democratic state Sen. Sheikh Rahman. “This will energize voters in ways we can’t imagine.”
Taking the lead was Stacey Abrams, who assailed Gov. Brian Kemp.
“It’s a fact that in Georgia forced pregnancy is now the law of the state,” Abrams said.
Led by Abrams, Democrats said the Georgia abortion law would be a game-changer at the polls this fall. State Sen. Jen Jordan, the party’s nominee for attorney general, said incumbent Chris Carr would “pay the price” in November.
Democrats have made similar predictions before, though polls show that high inflation and economic uncertainty remain the most pressing issue for Georgia voters in November.
Republicans meanwhile hailed the legal victory and sent the message to their supporters that this was proof that the GOP was on the right side of the abortion issue.
"Today's decision by the Eleventh Circuit affirms our promise to protect life at all stages," Gov. Kemp told reporters.
"Another victory for life!" trumpeted Georgia U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde.
Like Democrats, Conservatives are predicting their own surge at the polls in November. Cole Muzio of Frontline Policy Action, which advocated for the 2019 law, said abortion opponents have a “moral imperative” to back Kemp.
“This election, with lives on the line, everything comes down to the ballot box,” said Muzio. “The court is clear: states can protect life as they see fit.”
The bottom line here is pretty simple - in the wake of the landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last month, Georgia will be one of the prime battlegrounds over abortion in this November’s elections.
NO EXCEPTIONS. About an hour before the abortion ruling was released, GOP Senate hopeful Herschel Walker was asked by reporters in Athens whether he would support a national abortion ban.
His answer was an emphatic ‘yes.’
”There’s not a national ban on abortion right now and I think that’s a problem,” Walker said. “I’m pro-life and I’m not going to make an excuse for it.”
Pressed on whether he would vote for a federal ban if it came up Walker replied this way: “Well, I think that’s an ‘if’ and I think that’s not what we don’t we need to worry about. We need to worry about right now there’s not a national ban on abortion.”
Walker has said he opposes abortion in all cases, with no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother.
Swing State's paid subscribers receive text alerts from our reporting team. See below for how to sign up.LISTEN UP. We posted a special edition of the Politically Georgia podcast bright and early this morning with a look at the massive practical and political implications of Georgia’s new abortion law.
Listen and subscribe to our podcast for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
DODGEBALL. On Capitol Hill, Democrats are hoping they can find ten Republicans to join them in support of a bill which offers legal protections to same-sex and interracial marriages.
The legislative push comes in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on abortion - as supporters of same-sex marriage are worried that if no legislative action is taken, then the Justices could roll back the 2015 Obergefell decision which allowed for same-sex marriage.
On the campaign trail in Athens, Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker wouldn’t say whether he’d vote to write same-sex marriage into law as the U.S. Senate considers that possibility.
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