Let’s talk about what has just happened in Georgia.
The Republican governor who beat Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp, who was secretary of state—and
she has sued over his both remaining secretary of state in charge of the elections and running
for governor.
But the Republican governor, Brian Kemp has signed into law a six-week abortion ban, or
so-called “fetal heartbeat law.”
It bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that typically happens
just six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women realize they’re pregnant.
This is Kemp speaking at the signing of the bill on Tuesday.
The LIFE Act is very simple, but also very powerful.
A declaration that all life has value, that all life matters, and that all life is worthy
of protection.
I understand, like the others have said, that some oppose this legislation.
I realize that some may challenge it in the court of law.
But our job is to do what is right, not what is easy.
We are called to be strong and courageous, and we will not back down.
We will always continue to fight for life.
So that’s Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp, the latest in a series of attacks
on reproductive rights across the U.S.
Last month, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also signed into law a six-week abortion ban.
Legislation doesn’t include exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
More than two dozen other states are considering legislation to ban or restrict abortion in
various ways.
Among the slew of strategies are trigger bans to make abortion completely illegal in a state
should Roe v. Wade be overturned, as well as six-week abortion bans.
Respond to Kemp, and then what’s happening across the country.
Obviously, the hypocrisy of this, of just that clip you played, is underscored by the
fact that in fact, there is a crisis in this country, and it is maternal mortality rates,
which are the highest in the developed world.
I actually believe Georgia has the second-highest rate of maternal death related to pregnancy
of any state.
So if there is actually a medical crisis in Georgia, it’s about women dying as a result
of complications from childbirth.
So that’s on the one side.
If Governor Kemp actually wanted to do something about a real problem, that is something that
they could address, but you hear him say nothing about that.
And of course it’s higher for women of color—I think three times the rate for black women
than it is for white women.
This bill, though—not only is it unconstitutional, and I believe will be declared so, but one
of the things he doesn’t mention is that it actually criminalizes women as well.
It doesn’t just make abortion illegal; it basically would allow women to be convicted
and either sentenced to death or to life imprisonment in Georgia.
So we are now going from not only making abortion illegal, but criminalizing women who make
this decision that has been constitutional now for more than 40 years in the United States
of America.
And I think it directly relates back to the work we talked earlier about in Supermajority.
I think women are tired of basically being seen as a special interest, as a side issue.
These are issues that affect every single woman in this country.
How is it that though there is a clear pro-choice majority in this country most states are imposing
some kind of abortion ban?
Well, because if you look at who’s actually—I mean, look at my home state of Texas, where
we have had the most gerrymandered districts for years and have been fighting in court
forever.
So I would say the state legislatures in a lot of these states, including Texas, are
not representative of the majority of people.
You pile on that, as we know, the restrictions on voting for people in this country–Georgia,
Texas, many, many states—we don’t have a representative democracy.
One of the things we need in this country is we need democracy reform.
And I know that’s something that Stacey Abrams is fighting for.
Andrew Gillum, other folks.
This is really important, because we can’t have a true democracy that represents a majority
of people unless everybody can vote and every vote is counted.