Recently Passed Anti-Abortion Bill Topic Of GOP Meeting

Discussion of the fetal heartbeat bill passed by the Georgia General Assembly in late March permeated the more than 90-minute meeting of the Oconee County Republican Party on Monday.

Scott Hilton, director of implementation for the Georgians First Commission, brought up the bill in his keynote address to 38 people assembled at the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce meeting room in Watkinsville.

Sen. Bill Cowsert mentioned the bill at the very front of his summary of the accomplishments of the General Assembly this year.

Steven Strickland, newly elected chair of the Oconee County Republican Party, congratulated Cowsert and representatives Houston Gaines and Marcus Wiedower for their votes to pass the bill. All three are Republicans.

Strickland then asked Wiedower to talk about the vote during the panel discussion by the three Oconee County legislators of the recently-completed session.

Wiedower said he received hundreds of phone calls about the bill before the vote and thousands of emails and listened to what he called “really tough conversations” leading up to the March 29 vote.

“It did take a lot of courage to hit the button to reflect my vote,” Wiedower said.

The vote on the bill will continue to be “a hot topic,” Wiedower said, and added that he thought the vote “clouded” the success of the General Assembly on other issues such as healthcare, broadband, and cannabis oil.

For details on this story, with a video of the meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.