Brian Kemp refused to discuss abortion in the debate with Stacey Abrams

For months, Republicans on the campaign trail have he tried to pull away from his party’s disastrous state-level abortion bans. On Sunday night, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) — who literally signed Georgia’s current nearly total abortion ban into law — continued the trend when asked if he would sign other abortion restrictions in law, during a debate with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey. Abrams. With the midterms just a week away, it was the second and last time the two would go head-to-head on the debate stage.

“I’m not going to say yes or no to any specific legislation without seeing exactly what it does. It’s not my desire to move the needle any further on this issue,” Kemp told the moderators. He emphasized that Georgia is “a state that values life,” and added: “Personally I don’t see the need to go back, but when you’re governor, you have to deal with all kinds of legislative issues that are out there.” – another non-response. His ambiguous answers on Sunday are, if anything, a disturbing step backwards: Earlier this month, at his first debate, Kemp he said “It is not my desire to” enact more restrictions on abortion.

Given Kemp’s history of attacking reproductive rights, it’s laughable that he’s now trying to distance himself from the very abortion legislation he worked to pass. Georgia’s abortion ban, first signed into law by Kemp in 2019 but blocked from taking effect until Roe fell in June, is the first in the nation to formally establishes the fetal person, conferring legal rights on literal embryos that supersede the rights of pregnant people. It was also picked up by a hot microphone that supports it restrictions on IVF treatments and ban plan B.

Of course, Kemp’s cowardly refusal to speak publicly about abortion in Sunday’s debate is not surprising – all the polls indicate how Abortion bans are unpopular among voters, and the Republican candidates are clearly stressed. Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters literally deleted the page supporting the abortion ban from his campaign website in August. Days later, Tom Barrett, a Republican congressional candidate in Michigan, too scrubbed their website of any mention of abortion. In September, another Republican candidate refused to give a yes or a no he answers when asked if he supports the ban on abortion, finally concluding: “I would say yes, the politics of abortion.”

In contrast to Kemp at the debate on Sunday night, Abrams, who expertly explained why the language calls. six-week abortion prohibits “fetal heartbeats.” is inaccurate-it was more than willing to answer questions regarding abortion. “Let’s be clear: he didn’t say he didn’t have it [support more restrictive abortion bills]” he said of Kemp’s response. “There shouldn’t be arbitrary times set by men who don’t understand biology. This is a law that tells women that they have to make a decision about their pregnancy before they know they are pregnant, in a state with 82 counties without an OBGYN.”

Abrams also slammed Kemp for his support of Herschel Walker, the Georgia Republican Senate candidate who allegedly paid two abortions of women despite his staunchly “pro-life” public stance: “[Kemp] he refuses to defend us and even defends Herschel Walker, saying he didn’t want to be involved in his running mate’s personal life, but he doesn’t care to be involved in the personal medical choices of women in Georgia.”

Abrams also pointed out that the ban on abortion of the fetal person in Georgia is currently contested in court, opens the door for investigations on people who have experienced abortion or death. “Brian Kemp has no plan for the lives of women who are forced to carry pregnancies to term that are unwanted pregnancies,” he said. “But more importantly, he refuses to protect us, he refuses to defend us.”

U the latest polls shows Kemp holding a steep lead, 52 to 43 percent over Abrams.

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