This week marked the 51st anniversary that the United States Supreme Court declared access to abortion a constitutional right. That happened in the Roe vs. Wade decision. Nearly two years after the Supreme Court affirmed the Dobbs decision, the Georgia Democrats vowed to get abortion rights on the ballot in November. Georgia is following the leads of New York and Maryland, seeking to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution.
“Last year we joined this fight to elevate the voices of the people and do whatever we can to ensure our voices are heard and honored,” said Georgia Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler Monday afternoon. “That is why I introduced Senate Resolution 136 to allow Georgians to decide whether we want to protect reproductive freedom by and thriving in our state constitution. Following the long tradition to protect our patients rights in Georgia.”
Currently, Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act bans most abortions the moment “a detectable human heartbeat” is present. It states cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will become the heart. That process could take place as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, before many pregnancies are detected.
Governor Brian Kemp released a written statement this afternoon which reads:
“Georgia is a state that values life and the Governor has proudly supported the LIFE Act since its passage in 2019. Instead of focusing on laws passed five years ago, this legislative session the Governor is championing record investments in our schools, pay raises for state law enforcement and employees, historic tax cuts for hardworking Georgians, and innovative health care solutions that are lowering costs and increasing access.”
As the campaign season ramps up, Democrats are prepping that former President Trump will be the GOP’s nominee. If he wins re-election, a nationwide ban on abortion could be top-of-mind for Republicans. A constitutional amendment passed in Ohio. Also, Virginia Democrats now control the legislature with an abortion-based agenda. The issue could be a winning one this year.
“When patients don’t have access to abortion when they need it, the consequences can be devastating,” said Dr. Didi Saint Louis, a member of the Committee to Protect Health Care’s Reproductive Freedom Taskforce and OBGYN in Atlanta. “When politicians interfere with women’s personal health care decisions, women’s lives are put at risk. A national abortion ban like Donald Trump supports would put lives at risk nationwide.”
Georgia State Rep. Shea Roberts, a Democrat from Atlanta, sponsored a bill titled the Reproductive Freedom Act. According to the bill, it nixes the belief an unborn child is eligible for child support. Roberts’s bill declares that an unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat can’t be claimed for income tax purposes.
Roberts’s bill is co-sponsored by these Democrats: Minority House Leader James Beverly, State Representatives Park Cannon, Jasmine Clark, Dar’Shun Kendrick, and Kim Schofield.
During Monday’s press conference, she described a moment in which she had to terminate a pregnancy due to Trisomy 18. It is a chromosomal disorder Roberts’s physicians classified as incompatible with life.
“If this happened to my family in 2024, I, like many Georgia women who couldn’t afford the costs of seeking care in a state with reproductive freedom would have been forced to stay pregnant, forced to give birth against my own will and at great risk to my own life would have had to endure forced birth despite trained physicians recommending the contrary,” Roberts said. Georgia’s near total abortion ban interferes with a doctor’s care period full stop.”
Wednesday afternoon, the Democrats will host a hearing regarding the bills seeking to affirm Roe. The hearing will take place in the Central Presbyterian Church at 2:00 PM. Roberts said the Georgia GOP prevented her from booking rooms in the Capitol.”
“Republican leadership will not allow us to use a committee hearing room in this house, the people’s house, even when no one else is using it,” Roberts said. “Again, Republican politicians are doing everything they can to silence the people and they were elected to represent them.”