SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — A Fulton County mayor is taking steps to deprioritize criminalizing abortion after the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week.
“I wrote this story in a way that left more questions than answers," South Fulton Mayor Khalid said.
City of South Fulton Mayor Khalid posted a picture on Instagram after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. Mayor Khalid shared his personal story of sitting with a young woman in an abortion clinic waiting room.
“It's nobody's business why I was there," Khalid said. "It's nobody's business whether we got an abortion or did not get an abortion."
The Mayor is taking action after the nation's highest court ruled to send abortion laws back to the states.
“What we're saying is that that we are not going to support the criminalization with our tax dollars," Khalid said.
11Alive asked Mayor Khalid how this would work if Georgia's heart bill law goes into effect, which bans abortions around six weeks.
“We can't overturn a law that's passed by the state, but we can in our jurisdiction decide what crimes are priority," Khalid said. "Right? In our city it’s robberies, rapes, murders. Those things are priority in our city.”
Mayor Khalid authored the resolution to decriminalize abortion in South Fulton. He also posted on his Instagram account that it would "restricts the use of any City funds for the surveillance or investigation by police or prosecutors of abortion-related activities."
“Liliana Bakhtiari, who is Atlanta city councilwoman, she passed this legislation just last week in Atlanta. My brother, Kirkland Carver, who is a Gwinnett County commissioner, is introducing this legislation this month," Khalid said.
11Alive's Dawn White reached out to South Fulton Police Chief Keith Meadows. He said this is the first he's heard of the resolution and wants to talk to the city attorney before commenting.
“We are going to deprioritize that the same way that we have deep prioritized checks for immigration or deprioritize the criminalization of cannabis less than an ounce," Khalid said.
Mayor Khalid expects the City of South Fulton Council to vote on his resolution on the fourth Tuesday in August.