Stacey Abrams takes to the pulpit to preach abortion, government contracts: 'For me and my house, I plan to vote'

With just a few weeks until the midterm elections, Stacey Abrams, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, took to a pulpit in an Atlanta church to promote abortion, matriarchal governance, and race-based state contracts.

At the noon service at Elizabeth Baptist Church last Sunday, Abrams adopted a pastor's lilt and a handful of decontextualized scripture verses to promote her campaign platform. One major issue she addressed was abortion. In this instance, Abrams did not even bother with the Bible, but instead made a generic reference to her "tradition of faith" to justify her support for abortion at least until fetal viability and perhaps "until the time of birth."

"And for those in this room who are women," Abrams began. "I come from a tradition of faith, and I believe that I have the right to control my body and control my future, and that that belongs to me alone.

"And I don't want to make the choice for anybody else," she continued, "but I don't want some man who's never met me in my doctor's office with me."

Abrams then pivoted to compare herself with biblical heroines Esther, Deborah, Ruth, and sisters Mary and Martha, and she used these female figures to denounce patriarchal leadership and to promote the matriarchy.

"It took men to break this place. It's going to take a woman to make it right," Abrams insisted, even though only two of the women she listed, Esther and Deborah, ever held a position of leadership, and even Queen Esther remained under the strict control of her husband, King Ahasuerus.

The abortion and biblical women discussions can be heard from the beginning of the clip below until about the :39 mark:

Abrams may have had good reason to place herself on the pedestal of those biblical heroines. In his introduction of Abrams, Bishop Craig L. Oliver Sr. insisted that "God has raised [Abrams] in the capacity of an Esther in today's time. For such a time as this, God has exalted her."

In addition to Esther, Abrams also referenced the book of Lamentations to encourage those in the congregation to vote.

"But the book of Lamentations is about reminding us that, even in siege, we have an opportunity to see the future," she averred at the 1:44 mark in the video above, "that we have the chance to rise up and have more. And voting is how we do that in a democracy. ...

"For me and my house, I plan to vote," she said, twisting the famous verse from the book of Joshua, "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Abrams also used the opportunity to call for more government contracts "to people of color," conflating state "contracts" with "revenue."

"Right now, the state of Georgia gives 1.5% of the contracts to people of color," she stated. "We're 48% of the population, we should be more than 1.5% of the revenue."

This November will be the second time Abrams faces Gov. Brian Kemp (R) for the governor's seat in Georgia. And once again, Abrams' prayers may not be answered in the way she hopes. Kemp, the incumbent, currently leads Abrams by 5.6 points in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.

The entire Elizabeth Baptist Church service from last Sunday can be viewed below: