Democrat Stacey Abrams Elicits Fierce Backlash After Tying Abortion Access to Inflation Struggles

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor, said during a television appearance Wednesday that more abortion access was a solution to combatting the nation’s crippling inflation rate, a remark that prompted widespread backlash from Republicans.

Abrams was asked on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

While abortion is an issue, it nowhere reaches the level of interest of voters in terms of the cost of gas, food, bread, milk, things like that. What can a governor, what could you do as governor to alleviate the concerns of Georgia voters about those livability, daily, hourly issues they’re confronted with?

Abrams replied:

Let’s be clear. Having children is why you’re worried about your price for gas. It’s why you’re concerned about how much food costs. For women this is not a reductive issue. You can’t divorce being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child.

Abrams, who is facing Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in a contentious gubernatorial rematch, then provided a nonspecific list of follow-up answers to the current high cost of living, which nearly 70 percent of respondents in a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll said was an “extremely important” or “very important” consideration for how they would vote.

“A governor can address housing prices. A governor can address the cost of education. A governor can put money into the pockets of everyday hardworking Georgians instead of giving tax cuts to the wealthy. That’s what I talk about on the trail,” Abrams said before switching the conversation back to abortion.

Kemp, an outspokenly pro-life governor, signed into law Georgia’s six-week abortion ban in 2019, and the ban, which includes exceptions, took effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned this year.

The governor responded to Abrams’ comments with a list of inflation fixes, including continuing to suspend the state’s gas tax.

Republican Herschel Walker, who is vying to unseat Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in a highly competitive Senate battle, raised the question to Warnock of whether he agrees with Abrams.

Warnock, a longtime pastor who is notoriously pro-abortion, did not respond to a request for comment from Breitbart News on the matter.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, called Abrams’ remarks “barbaric.”

The Susan B. Anthony List, a national pro-life organization that has endorsed Walker, paraphrased that “Abrams blames children” for rising costs of everyday goods.

Stephen Miller, former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, noted the perceived irony in a Democrat advocating for more abortion access “to offset the cost of Democrat-caused inflation.”

House Judiciary Committee Republicans shared the clip of Abrams’ comment eight times on social media, asking various prominent Democrats, such as Warnock, if they agreed with Abrams.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) suggested Abrams’ comments were “unhinged.”

More:

The Abrams campaign responded to the flood of reactions in a statement to the AJC, emphasizing the financial costs of having children.

“Stacey Abrams wants to make sure women are able to make their own health care decisions on an issue that is deeply personal and can have strong economic implications,” a spokesperson said. “Brian Kemp wants to ban abortion even in the case of rape and incest.”

Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.

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