Democratic nominee pitches abortion as cure for high inflation – Reuters

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams pushed back against the idea that the Democratic Party is too focused on abortion rights at a time when voters are most concerned about inflation, suggesting that the termination of pregnancy is a way for women to cope with the high prices.

« Having kids is why you worry about the price of gas, it’s why you worry about the cost of food, » Abrams said Wednesday in an interview with MSNBC. « For women, this is not a reductive question », Abrams said. « You can’t get divorced from having to carry an unwanted pregnancy from the economic realities of having a child. »

Democrats have seized on abortion rights as a burning issue since the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade, judging that the US Constitution does not protect the right to terminate a pregnancy. President Joe Biden has promised Democrats will pass legislation codifying Roe v. Wade nationally if the party is able to retain control of the House and Senate in next month’s congressional midterm elections.

Abrams made his comments in response to a question from MSNBC commentator Mike Barnicle, who claimed abortion isn’t as pressing a concern for voters as everyday challenges like being able to afford groceries and gas. . The inflation rate in the United States is near a 40-year high and has increased sixfold since Biden took office in January 2021.

« Let’s not pretend that women – half the population, especially those of childbearing age – understand that having a child is absolutely an economic problem », Abrams said. « It’s just the politicians who just see it as another cultural conversation. »

Conservatives have criticized Abrams for championing abortion as a way to fight inflation, rather than proposing economic policies that would allow more Americans to have children. « I can’t believe it needs to be said, but ending human life is not the solution to inflation, » said Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas. Congressman Andy Biggs, a Republican from Arizona, called Abrams’ comments « demonic. »

The controversy comes less than three weeks before the November 8 mid-terms. « I didn’t really expect Democrats to say, ‘You know, it’s cheaper to feed your family if you kill some‘ as a closing argument, ‘and yet here we are,’ Dan McLaughlin, editor of the National Review, said.

Georgia’s gubernatorial race is a rematch of the state’s 2018 election, when Abrams lost to Republican Brian Kemp. Abrams and other top Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have claimed, but failed to prove, that the election was stolen from him by voter suppression. She was portrayed as a « rising star » by Democrats and was chosen to deliver the party’s response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address in February 2019.