ATLANTA — An unsourced robocall thanks a southwest Georgia congressman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams for supporting the rights of “birthing people” to “have an abortion up to the moment of birth” ahead of November’s election.
11Alive has obtained audio of the call, which is made to appear as if it is in support of Abrams and Rep. Sanford Bishop, who has represented Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District for roughly three decades, before polarizing and misleading language is used. A second abortion rights robocall mentions only Bishop.
The message failed to identify the entity that paid for the call or provide a telephone number for the calling party. Both are violations of the Federal Communications Commission’s rules for political campaign calls and texts.
In statements provided to 11Alive, representatives for Abrams and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee allege the messages are Republican attacks. Attempts to contact the campaign of Republican Chris West, Bishop’s opponent in the November midterm, were unsuccessful.
The October phone calls, first reported by CNN, reached thousands of phones, according to anti-robocall app Nomorobo.
The calls zero in on abortion rights tension in an important region for Democrats. Republicans hope to take control of Congress. The U.S. House race is Georgia’s most competitive, with recent polling showing Bishop with a single-digit lead. The district includes the rural southwest portion of the state as well as most of Columbus and Macon.
The region is also important to Abrams as she seeks to unseat Republican incumbent Brian Kemp. President Joe Biden carried both Bibb County (Macon) and Muscogee County (Columbus) by roughly 24 points in 2020.
What did the abortion robocall say?
The first call is narrated by a woman identified as Jill and gives her pronouns as she/her. Jill states that people who “identify as women are under attack not just in Georgia, but throughout our country.”
The call goes on to thank Bishop and Abrams for fighting for abortion rights, before misrepresenting their positions on the issue.
“While some elected officials are trying to limit abortion rights to six months or even five months after conception. We are so lucky to have Stacey Abrams and Stanford Bishop fighting to protect our right to have an abortion up until the date of birth," the caller says.
Listen to the call below
A second call, narrated by a different unidentified woman, claims Bishop is the "only candidate with 100% rating with Planned Parenthood and will defend the right to an abortion up to nine months.” The call also alleges that Bishop would “protect taxpayer funded abortions without restriction and has a proven track record of voting to allow abortion in all trimesters.”
The first call came from a 229 southwest Georgia area code. The second came from a 415 area code, which covers the San Francisco area.
What did Abrams, Bishop say about the calls?
Bishop’s campaign declined to comment on the calls.
The congressman has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood dating back to 2015, according to the organization’s congressional scorecard. However, Bishop has voted for some late-term abortion restrictions, and he recently stated that abortions should be “rare.”
“These personal healthcare choices should ultimately rest with a woman, her God and her doctor—not with politicians in 50 different state legislatures that may likely encourage Americans to spy on their neighbors for a bounty, stalk women, their friends and supporters; criminalize doctors and otherwise limit access to healthcare,” he said after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. “While I believe abortion should be rare, it should be legal, safe, and an available choice in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life or health of a woman.”
Monica Robinson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, denounced the calls in a statement to 11Alive.
“This misleading robocall – paid for by unknown outside interests – is what desperation smells like,” she said. “Resorting to lies to win an election is proof that Chris West can’t win honestly or on his own merits. If West has any integrity at all, he’ll denounce these robocalls and call on his special interest backers to stop lying to Georgians.”
Abrams, who was once anti-abortion until she went to college, has said she supports abortion until a physician determines the fetus is viable, except in cases of protecting the woman’s life and health.
“Viability is the metric,” Abrams said during a September appearance on The View talk show. “(If) a woman’s health or life is in danger, then viability extends to the time of birth.
“There’s no one who wakes up at eight months and says nevermind,” she added. “It is usually a traumatic experience – a difficult, if not heart-wrenching decision.”
In the appearance on The View, Abrams said that abortion is a “decision that should be made between a woman and her doctor."
“This disgusting and false attack is a new low for the right wing — and comes as misrepresentations and outright lies that have become a feature of the Kemp campaign,” said Abrams spokesperson Alex Floyd. “Stacey Abrams has been clear about her support for limitations on abortion in line with Roe and Casey. Now it’s time for Brian Kemp to clearly condemn this false robocall and start answering Georgians’ questions about his extreme anti-choice record.”
What do we know about who is behind the calls?
11Alive was unable to determine the source of the calls. CNN contacted nearly a dozen active federal PACs with “American Values” in their name – a group mentioned in one of the calls – and none took credit. Audio obtained by 11Alive doesn’t mention the group.
The mysterious call is like calls made in two Georgia GOP races earlier this year.
One involved West and former Army captain Jeremy Hunt in the 2nd Congressional District. The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported the calls were made to appear as if they came from someone affiliated with the Hunt campaign, but the underlying message is meant to drive support away from Hunt.
“It’s time to bring the Republican Party out of the past and into the future with Jeremy Hunt,” according to call audio obtained by 11Alive. “Although some of former President Trump’s policies did well, his divisive language was just too much for our country. We have an opportunity with Jeremy Hunt to be smart and modernize our party for the better. No more conspiracy theories. No more racism. Lock arms and join us for victory June 21.”
Like the more recent calls, the organization paying for the message is not identified.
West defeated Hunt in the June primary.
The other calls came in the race between Mike Collins and Vernon Jones, a Hunt spokesperson told the Ledger-Enquirer. The calls aggressively attacked Collins in an attempt to make Jones look bad. 11Alive was unable to obtain audio of this call.
Hunt and Jones made posts on social media, encouraging people to report the calls to the FCC.
Both Collins and West used Wiregrass Consulting Services, a Florida-based political firm, according to election campaign data. Florida business records identify Brandon Phillips as the firm’s manager.
Phillips told 11Alive that the company was not behind the calls. He also serves as the chairman for Georgia’s 2nd Congressional Republican Party.