Keisha Lance Bottoms eyes repealing Georgia’s abortion restrictions

Democratic Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms said Friday she’d work to repeal Georgia’s abortion restrictions, a move that is in line with promises she made on the campaign trail to restore previous standards before the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

Speaking to reporters from the marble steps inside the Georgia Capitol just days after her election, Bottoms said if Democrats “see a pathway” to address the law when the legislative session kicks off in January they would “take that opportunity.”

“It may not be this session,” she cautioned. “We know that whole ballot energy has helped us flip the House, and we have some very thin margins in the Senate. So we’ll begin to have those conversations, and we’ll see if it can be done soon.”

The Republican majority in the Georgia Legislature passed a law in 2019 that bans abortion once fetal cardiac activity is detected, which can be as early as six weeks of pregnancy. Critics note that is often before women know they are pregnant.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who will leave office in January because of term limits, signed that law, which took effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The law garnered national attention and faced increased scrutiny following the deaths of two Georgia women, Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, and Candi Miller, 41, who died from complications related to abortions.

On Tuesday, voters returned Democrats to power in a big way. Democrats won every statewide executive constitutional office, plus picked up a majority in the state House of Representatives. The change gives Democrats a path to explore their long-stalled priorities, including repealing Georgia’s abortion restrictions and expanding it’s Medicaid program.