Kemp Ally Compared Georgia Companies Providing Abortion Access to Nazi Persecution Of Jews

Georgia Businesses Called Out By Name

A new report from The Forward reveals that a Georgia Republican Party official compared Georgia companies that provide employees abortion care access to Nazi persecution of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

The comments were made by Jason Shepherd, a Kemp ally who is a member of the GOP state committee and former chair of the Cobb County Republican Party, during an event hosted by Cobb Young Republicans and Georgia Life Alliance.

The Nazi regime decided Jews “were not people and they did not have a right to life,” said Jason Shepherd. “Today we have corporate America — because of expenses and the cost — saying that these people are not people and they don’t have a right to life,” Shepherd continued, referring to unborn fetuses.

Shepherd also called out Georgia businesses by name, including Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, Mercedes Benz, and Walmart.

Read more from The Forward: Georgia Republican Offical Compared Companies Providing Abortion Access to Nazi Persecution Of Jews

• A Georgia Republican and ally of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp likened major corporations that provide women with access to abortion care to the Nazi regime’s treatment of Jews, according to audio obtained by the Forward.

• The Nazi regime decided Jews “were not people and they did not have a right to life,” said Jason Shepherd, a member of the GOP state committee and former chair of the Cobb County GOP, at an Aug. 17 event hosted by Cobb Young Republicans and Georgia Life Alliance.

• “Today we have corporate America — because of expenses and the cost — saying that these people are not people and they don’t have a right to life,” he said, referring to unborn fetuses. He mentioned that his great grandmother, who escaped Eastern Europe before the war to settle in New York, was Jewish, and that some of his family members were murdered during the Holocaust.

• Calling out some corporations by name — including Home Depot, Delta Airlines, Mercedes and Walmart — Shepherd, a healthcare attorney, asked the crowd if anyone was recording and noted that his comments were off the record.

• That attendee shared audio of the event with Rep. Mike Wilensky of Dekalb County, the only Jewish member of the Georgia state legislature. Wilensky said he was “disgusted and angry” when he heard the remarks, calling Shepherd’s statements “ignorant, harmful and wrong.”

• “Nothing will ever be like the Holocaust under Nazi rule and any current thing that’s going on must be discussed on its own,” said Wilensky, adding that Shepherd’s comparison “minimizes all of the suffering of the millions who were murdered and the many many more who have suffered in the Holocaust and with the loss of their families.” 

• Valerie Habif, co-founder of the Jewish Democratic Women’s Salon in Atlanta, called Shepherd’s remarks “appalling and shameful.” “The victims of the Holocaust lacked any choice whatsoever in their fate,” Habif said. “Bodily autonomy is a hallmark of what it means to be free.“

• Shepherd, who is also a member of the National Republican Lawyers Association, resigned last year from the Cobb county committee of the Cobb Republican Party after it passed a resolution to censure Kemp over his immigration policies. He has been involved in Republican politics for close to three decades, and unsuccessfully ran for state party chair in 2021.

• On Twitter, Shepherd frequently promotes Kemp, who in July implemented a law that prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

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