Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate is putting abortion rights at the center of her campaign

Stacey Abrams has temporarily paused fundraising for her campaign for governor of Georgia as she is now focused on supporting abortion rights groups in the state. 

As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Wednesday, Abrams asked her supporters to donate to abortion-rights groups amid the controversial leak of a draft opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito striking down Roe v. Wade. 

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito writes in the document. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Stacey Abrams speaks during a campaign rally on March 14, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Abrams said she’ll pivot from soliciting funds for her campaign and will instead redirect funds to the Feminist Women’s Health Center, SisterSong, Planned Parenthood Southeast, Access Reproductive Care Southeast, and NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia, according to the report. 

“This moment demands action, so I will be blunt: The abomination of that leaked opinion is coming to find every one of us,” Abrams said Wednesday in a campaign email, The Washington Post reports.  “Women in Georgia and across this country. LGBTQ+ and disabled people. And particularly those of color or low-income. This is a terrifying time for our nation.”

“In response, we have a right to be angry, and a right to be right,” she added. “But my parents taught me that it is insufficient to be merely upset; you have to act.”

As reported by theGrio’s Gerren Keith Gaynor, President Joe Biden released a statement Tuesday about the Supreme Court opinion draft leak affirming the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to defending Roe v. Wade.

“If the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November,” said President Biden.

As a woman, I am enraged by the continued assault on our right to control our bodies + our futures.

As an American, I am appalled by the SCOTUS breach & its implications.

As the next Governor of Georgia, I will defend the right to an abortion and fight for reproductive justice.

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) May 3, 2022

In a campaign fundraising email, Abrams wrote, “We know that no one individual, campaign or organization can guarantee reproductive choice on their own. We can only win this fight by uniting and doing the work together.”

In an interview Tuesday with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she also explained why she’s putting abortion rights at the center of her campaign for governor in Georgia.

“This campaign will absolutely lean into and lead on that issue,” the Democrat said. “Because if I want to be the governor of one Georgia, that means I’ve got to govern for the women of Georgia. And the women of Georgia by and large agree that their right to choose should not be stripped away from them.”

Abrams has raised $11.7 million so far for her political campaign, per the Associated Press. She is running unopposed in the May 24 Democratic primary. 

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