Extreme Abortion Bans Inspire Progressive Women To Run For Office
MACON, Ga. ― It is 94 degrees in this Georgia city. Some 120 Democrats dewy with sweat have congregated in a highly air-conditioned conference center to learn how to run for office. And more than half of them are women.
One of those women is Kelly Rose, a first-time candidate originally from Los Angeles who now lives in McDonough. She’s challenging Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland after his vote in support of the state’s extreme “heartbeat” bill that Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed into law last month.
When I tried to reach out to my representative about the [bill], I was discarded. I was placated. There was a lot of condescending conversation, dismissive behavior … and I don’t like where the state is headed,” she said.
Rose, who moved with her husband and children to Georgia a few years ago, echoed what many women have said in the days since the bill passed: that abortion bans as strict as these are not about “protecting life” but about controlling women.
“To me, [current legislation] is using ‘abortion’ to elicit an emotional response … but what I see it as is women are getting stronger and it’s a way of eliciting control over them,” she said. “It’s bully behavior, and I’ve never let a bully slide in my life.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/georgia-women-abortion-bill_n_5cf2fcb6e4b0a1997b6b68a7?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvL1c0U2p6UmhGb1g&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAh7DcOCeWjnDxBX3wROpMHuz_-EVq3-I2QQt2l3lVJpNCN1dTF--QmWQ9cFZ4g16OGSxadrWiCQNTqiI77PMc2e8L3-yLwX4cocuz2y_06L1PQ-SalxYCO8id8zuqNL-llXSMgM8BIRb5gX3BkSL016brvuwOkjCIfTe4kSORJr