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US3 min(s) read
Published 16:30 04 Oct 2022 GMT
Georgian Senate nominee and former NFL star Herschel Walker has spoken out following reports that he paid for his ex-lover's abortion.
The Republican pro-lifer has previously campaigned to completely ban abortion, which he believes should never be permitted - even in cases of rape and incest - as detailed by The Hill.
A damning report published by The Daily Beast on Monday (October 3) revealed that the 60-year-old had allegedly conceived a child with an ex-lover in 2009, after which he urged her to get an abortion. The woman - who wished to remain anonymous - told the publication that Walker reimbursed her for the medical procedure.
In fact, the woman claimed to still have copies of a $575 receipt from the clinic, a $700 personal check from Walker to pay for the procedure, and a 'get well' card the father-of-four had sent her. Per the report, the woman said she had "ballparked" the cost of a termination in order to explain the $125 difference.
The card allegedly sent by Walker to the woman was viewed and published by The Daily Beast and appeared to show the Georgia native's handwriting, with a message that read: "Pray you are feeling better." It was signed with Walker's distinctive autograph.
However, Walker has strongly denied the allegations.
Regarding the allegations, Walker has since released his own statement on Twitter, calling them a: "Democrat attack."
"This is a flat out lie - and I deny this in the strongest possible terms," the former Dallas Cowboys running back wrote.
"This is another repugnant hatchet job from a Democrat activist disguised as a reporter who has obsessively attacked my family and tried to tear me down since this race started," Walker added.
He concluded his statement by stating: "I'm not taking this anymore. I [am] planning to sue the Daily Beast for this defamatory lie. It will be filed tomorrow morning."
Walker's son, Christian - who was born during Walker's 19-year-marriage to Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, per ABC - slammed his father in a contradictory Twitter statement.
The 22-year-old wrote: "Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one. He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it. I'm done."
This isn't the first time the conservative politician has been accused of withholding the truth. Earlier this year, The Daily Beast published another report on Walker, claiming that he had not admitted to being a father of three children born out of wedlock (he'd previously only spoken about being a father to Christian).
In response to the criticism he received from this, Walker stated, via Associated Press: "I've never denied any of my kids and I love them more than I love anything. And they didn't do anything, which just makes me want to fight harder because I'm tired of people misleading the American people. I'm tired of people misleading my family."
Previously, Walker had hit out at absentee fathers in the Black community in an interview on The Charlie Kirk Show, remarking: "I want to apologize to the African-American community, because the fatherless home is a major, major problem."
us2 min(s) read
Published 10:48 25 Aug 2021 GMT
Former NFL star Herschel Walker has launched his bid for the Georgia Senate after Donald Trump said that his politics "would be unstoppable."
The Republican, 59, will now be challenging Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in the state with the backing of the former president, The Sun reports.
"He would be unstoppable, just like he was when he played for the Georgia Bulldogs, and in the NFL. He is also a GREAT person. Run Herschel, run!" the former POTUS, 75, said in a March statement.
The paperwork for Walker's bid was filed on Tuesday, August 24, at the Federal Election Commission, CNN reports, adding that he could be the frontrunner for the position with Trump's backing.
The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner has also been an adamant Trump supporter, and in December, he tweeted in support of Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
Randy Evans, the former US ambassador to Luxembourg in the Trump administration, said: "This could be the most important filing for the most important race in the country.
"It is the signal Georgia Republicans have been waiting on and the one the Democratic Senatorial Committee feared most."
"Herschel Walker understands the predicament our country is now in and the importance of those who love this country to step forward and do what it takes to save it," Evans added.
However, despite Walker's bid, Axios reports that he only recently moved to Georgia and became an official resident just last week.
Listen to Walker's speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention:The Sun reports that in February he shared his opinion about reparations being paid to Black Americans at a congressional hearing being held for House Resolution.
"We use black power to create white guilt," he said. "My approach is biblical... how can I ask my Heavenly Father to forgive me if I can't forgive my brother?
"America is the greatest country in the world for me, a melting pot of a lot of great races, a lot of great minds that have come together with different ideas to make Americans the greatest country on Earth."
"Reparations teach separation. Slavery ended over 130 years ago," he added.
celebrity1 min(s) read
Published 17:31 17 May 2019 GMT
Georgia's proposed abortion bill has been the subject of much controversy.
Under the "heartbeat bill", terminations after six weeks would be illegal, even in cases of rape and incest, effectively banning abortions as most pregnancies aren't discovered until this time. The only exception would be if a woman's life was in danger.
Any doctors caught defying the new law would be subject to a minimum of ten years imprisonment.
In the video below, Busy Philipps speaks out about the proposed bill:
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Now, in response, actor Jason Bateman has said that he will not work in Georgia, where is currently filming the Netflix show Ozark and HBO's The Outsider, if it is approved.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: "If the 'heartbeat bill' makes it through the court system, I will not work in Georgia, or any other state, that is so disgracefully at odds with women's rights."
If other actors follow suit with Bateman's protest, it could seriously hurt Georgia's economy, where many film and TV projects are filmed because of its generous 30% tax credit program.
Because of this, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has said that such a boycott would do more harm than good.
"While I support those who want to live their values by not bringing their resources here, I do not want to harm the citizens of Georgia who are doing this work," Abrams, a potential presidential candidate, told MSNBC.
Bateman, however, is far from the only celebrity to speak out against the proposed bill.
Emily Ratajkowski posed naked on Instagram to draw attention to the issue, captioning her picture:
"This week, 25 old white men voted to ban abortion in Alabama even in cases of incest and rape. These men in power are imposing their wills onto the bodies of women in order to uphold the patriarchy and perpetuate the industrial prison complex by preventing women of low economic opportunity the right to choose to not reproduce.
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"The states trying to ban abortion are the states that have the highest proportions of black women living there," she continued. "This is about class and race and is a direct attack on the fundamental human rights women in the US deserve and are protected by under Roe vs. Wade. Our bodies, our choice."
us2 min(s) read
Published 02:23 08 Mar 2019 GMT
In an unprecedented move, an Alabama judge is allowing a man to sue a clinic because his ex-girlfriend terminated her pregnancy without his consent. The incident took place in February 2017, when he was 19 and she was 16, The Independent reports. (The age of consent in Alabama is 16.) At the time she terminated the pregnancy, she was six weeks along, making the embryo about the size of a sweet pea. Now, for the first time in United States history, a probate court has recognized an aborted fetus as a person with rights.
In court documents filed on March 6 by Ryan Magers, he claims that he begged his ex-girlfriend to carry the pregnancy to term and give birth. She refused and opted to terminate the pregnancy by taking the so-called "abortion pill," which is actually two pills, containing mifepristone and misoprostol. The wrongful death lawsuit names both the Alabama Women's Center and the pharmaceutical company that made the medication.
In the filings, the fetus is referred to as "Baby Roe," a reference to Roe v. Wade, in which the US Supreme Court rejected the notion that a fetus is a person. But despite the ruling, three states have put "personhood" laws to a vote. Voters in Colorado and Mississippi rejected the measure, but voters in Alabama did not.
"I'm here for the men who actually want to have their baby," Mager explained to ABC 31. "I just tried to plead with her and plead with her and just talk to her about it and see what I could do, but in the end, there was nothing I could do to change her mind... I believe every child from conception is a baby and deserves to live."
"Ryan was all about family," Mager's lawyer, J. Brent Helms, told Refinery 29. "He took on extra jobs to be able to pay for the birth of Baby Roe. He doesn't know why she didn’t want to go through with the pregnancy."
Hannah Ford, a spokesperson for the anti-abortion group Personhood Alabama who is assisting with the lawsuit, issued a statement claiming Baby Roe "was cruelly robbed of life and silenced before entering the world or being able to personally voice complaint in court."
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The case has alarmed reproductive rights groups, who are concerned the "personhood" movement might spread. On Twitter, Ilyse Hogue, the president of Naral Pro-Choice America, called the case "very scary" because it "asserts woman's rights third in line," behind the man who impregnates her and the dead fetus. Salon writer Amanda Marcotte agreed, saying any man who "vetoes" an abortion is "not fit to be a father or a partner. Any such man is by definition, an abuser."
Those concerns are shared by Elizabeth Nash, the senior state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, which supports reproductive rights. "This man was unable to force his girlfriend to continue a pregnancy and so he’s taking an extreme action to exert control," she told Refinery 29. And speaking with The Independent, she explained, "[This case] has the potential to be used in other states, and it’s part of abortion opponents being emboldened... and conservatives turning over every rock to see how they can ban abortion."
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Mager's lawyer said the case could start a legal precedent that leads to the end of abortion in Alabama. However, law professors like Lucinda Finley from the University of Buffalo aren't so sure. She told The Cut that a wrongful death must be a "legally wrongful act in order to have a successful claim."
"In this case, the clinic that provided an abortion that the woman wanted and consented to did not perform any wrongful act," she said. "A third party who injures a pregnant woman and thereby ends her wanted pregnancy against her will is a vastly different situation than a woman who decides to end her own pregnancy."
film & tv1 min(s) read
Published 17:11 08 Jun 2019 GMT
Georgia offers companies a 30% tax credit to film projects locally, which has created a thriving entertainment industry. The state supports an estimated 92,000 jobs in production, attracting major movies and TV shows such as The Hunger Games, Stranger Things, and multiple Marvel superhero movies. However, more than half a dozen companies said they would "reevaluate" their investment due to the Peach State's draconian anti-abortion law.
Last month, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed the controversial "fetal heartbeat" bill, which outlaws abortion when a "fetal heartbeat" is detected. Since embryos do not have hearts, that "heartbeat" is actually electric cardiac activity. Typically that activity is detected at the six week point, when the embryo is about the size of a pea, and many do women do not know they are pregnant yet.
Watch Busy Philipps speak out against Georgia's controversial abortion law
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Georgia's law is blatantly unconstitutional, as abortion has been a safe, legal procedure for 46 years. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution's right to privacy protects a woman's right to seek an abortion; therefore, states must not place an "undue burden" on them. But that's precisely what Georgia, and handful of other red states are doing, in hope that the legal battles provoke today's right-leaning Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade.
On Wednesday, AMC Networks became the latest conglomerate to pledge a "reevaluation" in wake of Georgia's extremist law. "If this highly restrictive legislation goes into effect, we will reevaluate our activity in Georgia," AMC said in a statement to CBS News. "Similar bills - some even more restrictive - have passed in multiple states and have been challenged. This is likely to be a long and complicated fight and we are watching it all very closely."
AMC's zombie apocalypse show, The Walking Dead has been shot in Georgia for ten seasons. The show is getting a bit long in the tooth, but is still extremely popular, and the producers appear to have no end in sight.
If the network pulls the show out of Georgia, the state could potentially lose multiple seasons of production. That would certainly affect the Peach State's entertainment business, which reportedly pulls in $2.7 billion in direct spending.
Previously, Kristen Wiig pulled her film out of Georgia, while entertainment giants such as Netflix and Disney issued disapproving, yet ambiguous statements.
"If you look at the statements these companies' CEOs are making, they aren't taking a clear stance or making a clear decision that's decisive," BAM Communications founder Beck Bamberger told CBS. She added that "from a logistical standpoint, it would be a nightmare" to relocate production to another state.
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The Georgia abortion law, like others, has not gone into effect yet, and is certain to be challenged legally. Studios will likely be watching closely to see how things play out in the months going forward.
Of course, Georgia is not the only belle at the ball. Other states such as Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey and Mexico also offer lucrative tax credits with a low cost of living - and zero outrageous anti-abortion laws.
celebrity1 min(s) read
Published 01:37 10 May 2019 GMT
On Tuesday, Republican Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed one of the most extreme abortion laws in America. Measure HB 481 aims to ban abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is typically around six weeks, when the embryo is the size of a sweet pea. Reproductive advocates and doctors say the law amounts to a "forced pregnancy" bill, since many women do not know they are pregnant until after six weeks. (An embryo isn't even considered a fetus until the 9th or 11th week.)
What's more, the bill assigns legal recognition of personhood to embryos/fetuses older than six weeks. That means women who terminate their pregnancies past that point could face the possibility of punishment for murder, such as life imprisonment or capital punishment. It's quite controversial, since the Supreme Court clearly rejected the notion of a fetus as a person in their landmark 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, which has settled law for nearly half a century. (There are exceptions in HB 481 for rape and incest, but only if a woman fills out a police report.)
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Several Democratic politicians strongly protested the bill, including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Stacey Abrams, Kamala Harris and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "“6 weeks pregnant” = 2 weeks late on your period," tweeted Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. "Most of the men writing these bills don’t know the first thing about a woman’s body outside of the things they want from it. It’s relatively common for a woman to have a late period + not be pregnant. So this is a backdoor ban."
Watch Busy Philipps speak out against Georgia's abortion bill and share her experience at 15
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Hollywood stars are also speaking out. Busy Philipps, who hosts Busy Tonight on E!, condemned the bill, and shared his emotional experience with terminating a pregnancy as a teenager. "I had an abortion when I was 15 years old, and I'm telling you this because I'm genuinely really scared for women and girls all over this country," Philipps said. "And I think that we all need to be talking more and sharing our stories more."
Philipps added: "No bill that criminalizes abortion will stop anyone from making this incredibly personal choice, but these laws will put more women at risk. Every woman deserves compassion and care, not judgment and interference when it comes to their own bodies... Women and their doctors are in the best position to make informed decisions about what is best for them. Nobody else, nobody."
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Alyssa Milano, Don Cheadle, Zoe Kravitz, Christina Applegate, Alec Baldwin and dozens of other actors signed a letter denouncing the bill. They also threatened to boycott working the Peach State, which is home to several lucrative television and movie productions. According to The Hollywood Reporter, two production companies have already pledged not to film in Georgia anymore, so long as the law exists. (David Simon's Blown Deadline Productions and Christine Vachon's Killer Films.)
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Critics say Hollywood shouldn't boycott Georgia, because the governor already signed the bill into law; therefore, a boycott would mostly hurt the little people that work in production. But nevertheless, it could send a strong message to the governor, by hurting the state where it hurts, financially. (An enormous number of TV shows and movies have been filmed in Georgia, including The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, The Hunger Games, Ozark, The Vampire Diaries Guardians Of The Galaxy and Spider-Man.)