POWDER SPRINGS, Georgia — Although Karen Davenport, a retired schoolteacher who usually votes Republican, pulled the lever for incumbent Brian Kemp in the Georgia primary on Tuesday, she said she didn’t share all of his political ideals. First, she doesn’t believe that government, at any level, should have a say in whether women can have abortions.
“I think it’s a personal choice,” said Ms. Davenport, 59, outside the Burnt Hickory Baptist Church in Powder Springs, a northwest Atlanta suburb that was recently attracted to the Marjorie Taylor Greene ward, the incendiary Republican congresswoman.
“An individual and their physician must decide what is best for them,” said Ms. Davenport. “It’s nobody else’s business. I wouldn’t go out and tell you what I’m doing with my health.”
Stephen Bass, a 35-year-old real estate appraiser, expressed a similar sentiment after casting a vote for Mr Kemp. He knew the governor had signed legislation in 2019 that aims to ban abortions after six weeks – the bill is still being challenged in court – but Mr Bass said it was not his place to speak out about what women should do. can do with their bodies.
“I’m allowed to have an opinion, but I don’t have the right anatomy to make decisions about abortion,” he said.
Cynthia Fowlkes, a retired schoolteacher and lifelong Democrat who moved to Georgia from New York a few years ago, said after the Powder Springs vote that she was “very religious,” so when it comes to determining the fate of reproductive rights, it in God’s hands.”
Still, Ms Fowlkes, 66, said she was inclined to support abortion rights. “I believe in a woman’s right to decide how she wants to handle her body,” she said, adding: “But I honestly don’t believe politics should be a part of this conversation.”
