Amid protests, Kemp signs strict anti-abortion bill

Published 1:28 pm Tuesday, May 7, 2019

(For video of the bill signing, click here.)

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill that bans most abortions after about six weeks into a pregnancy, setting the stage for what is likely to be a costly legal battle.

“I realize that some may challenge it in the court of law, but our job is to do what is right, not what is easy,” Kemp said Tuesday just before signing the bill at the state Capitol in Atlanta. “We are called to be strong and courageous, and we will not back down. We will always continue to fight for life.”

Georgia’s “heartbeat” bill was one of many being proposed across the country, and similar anti-abortion measures have already been signed into law in Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio.

The law here will outlaw abortions after a heartbeat has been detected while allowing for a few exceptions: if the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother, if the fetus is deemed “medically futile” or in the case of rape or incest.

Elected last year, Kemp vowed on the campaign trail to sign the toughest abortion law in the country. The measure narrowly passed in the state’s General Assembly earlier this year.

The measure will take effect in January. Till then, women can continue to obtain an abortion up until 20 weeks into a pregnancy, which is what existing law allows.

“I have one message for Gov. Kemp: We will see you in court,” Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, told reporters immediately after the bill’s signing, vowing also to campaign against lawmakers who voted for the bill this session.

“And I want our patients to know that we are going to court, we are fighting for their rights and in the meantime, our doors stay open,” Fox said. “We will continue to provide access to things like STD testing and birth control and access to safe, legal abortion.”

Opponents have decried the new law as a measure that would only hurt low-income women who lack the means to travel outside of Georgia for an abortion.

The ACLU of Georgia and others have vowed to file a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s law later this summer.

Andrea Young, who is the executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, said the group would be filing a “comprehensive challenge to the many ways that this bill is unconstitutional and violates the fundamental, constitutional rights of women in this country.”

But at least for the moment, Tuesday’s signing was a joyous occasion for supporters of the anti-abortion bill.

“I thank God for this day,” said a tearful Rachel Mary Guy, a pro-life advocate in Georgia who was deemed medically futile as a fetus. “Every day I fight and I pray that abortion ends, but I truly never thought that we would see a day like this.”

A conservative majority on the nation’s high court has emboldened pro-life advocates, who see an opportunity to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that has protected a woman’s right to an abortion.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Ed Setzler, a Republican from Acworth, would not say directly that his sight is set on the Supreme Court and on overturning the long-standing landmark decision.

But he argued that Georgia’s legislation establishes the “personhood” of the unborn child by allowing parents to claim a tax deduction and other provisions.

“I think we’ve laid a solid legal foundation. We have solid science behind us. I think the common sense of Georgians stands with us,” Setzler said Tuesday.

“The state of Georgia has recognized that the child in utero deserves full legal protection as a human person and in doing that, we’ve laid the groundwork that, should it make it to the Supreme Court, I think it’s going to find a very favorable reception.”

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites.