- Stacey Abrams said in a CNN interview that she had changed her perspective on abortion rights.
- The Georgia gubernatorial candidate was raised in a religious household and grew up being anti-abortion.
- She said she understands religious people, but that ideology has no place in medical decisions.
Georgia Democratic nominee for Governor Stacey Abrams explained in a Friday interview with CNN how her perspective on abortion rights has evolved over the years and how she came to support the right to abortion services after being raised in a religious household.
"I was very much on the side of anti-abortion, through much of my upbringing. I grew up in Mississippi, in a very religious family, in a religious community," Abrams told CNN host Sara Sidner. "And I was raised to have a very uncritical eye to this question."
She went on to explain she had a change of heart after watching a friend face "the very real consequences" of an unwanted pregnancy that made her question her beliefs about abortion.
"I understand the sincere concerns. But those are religious concerns, or often concerns driven by personal morality. And that should be your choice," Abrams said in the CNN interview. "But abortion is a medical issue. It is about a medical decision. And there is no place, in that medical decision, for ideology, or for politicians."
Abrams is again running against incumbent Brian Kemp — to whom she narrowly lost the 2018 election — for Georgia Governor. In 2019, Kemp signed into law a controversial "fetal heartbeat bill" which restricted abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and criminalized women who pursued abortions at home or out of state. A federal judge permanently struck down the law in 2020, but it is unclear if a similar law will be passed following the overturning of Roe vs. Wade on Friday.
"The Governor of Georgia has already said, he does not care about women, and their bodily autonomy. He does not care about their health," Abrams added in the interview. "Because he not only has already adopted and signed into law the most restrictive abortion law in Georgia's history, with the constrictions at six weeks. He has said in interviews that he intends that he also supports eliminating access for incest and rape."
Other Georgia politicians, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and congressional hopeful Herschel Walker have praised the Supreme Court's decision and called for even more restrictive abortion laws in the state. Walker, who is currently running for Senate, said in May the state should adopt a total abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.
Representatives for Abrams did not respond to Insider's request for comment.