DeKalb County’s largest city recently passed a resolution supporting women’s reproductive rights.
The item approved last week by the Stonecrest City Council “prohibits the use of city funds to investigate, store or catalog reports of abortion care,” according to a press release. It also encourages DeKalb County police, which serve the Stonecrest area, to make investigating reports of abortion care their lowest priority.
“The city of Stonecrest proudly honors the personal health care choices of women,” Mayor Jazzmin Cobble said in the press release. “Georgia passed one of the strictest abortion bills in the nation, and, unfortunately, this resolution does not overturn that law. However, Stonecrest officials have a responsibility to protect the individuals in our city from any violation of their human rights.”
Stonecrest’s resolution — which “supports the protection of individuals involved in the abortion or abortion-related process from criminal penalties” — mirrors a similar action taken by the city of Atlanta. Both are a reaction to Georgia’s 2019 anti-abortion law coming into effect following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
DeKalb County is also considering a similar resolution, which was brought forth by Commissioner Ted Terry. Several members of the public spoke in support of the agenda item during a recent meeting.
State Rep. Rhonda Taylor, D-Conyers, represents part of the Stonecrest area and serves on the Democratic House Caucus’ subcommittee for women’s reproductive rights.
She called Stonecrest’s resolution a “bold and admirable pledge.”
“Georgia’s ‘heartbeat’ bill is horrific, and it attempts to strip the decision making from women, which is not only insulting but outright, dehumanizing,” Taylor said. “Women in Georgia will continue to fight, and we will not be silenced into accepting this intrusion.”
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