There’s so much confusion and misinformation out there, so what does Georgia’s Heartbeat bill 481 actually do and not do?
What it does:
– Bans abortion after presence of detectable human heartbeat (typically around 6 weeks gestation).
– Provides exceptions for the following:
- A physician determines in reasonable medical judgment that a medical emergency exists.
- The probable gestational age is 20 weeks or less and the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest in which an official police report has been filed alleging the offense of rape or incest.
- A physician determines in reasonable medical judgment that the pregnancy is medically futile.
– Protects the woman from being prosecuted for undergoing an abortion procedure.
What it does NOT consider abortion:
– The removal of a dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion
– The removal of an ectopic pregnancy
The heartbeat bill also defines the above underlined terms as follows:
– Abortion: the act of using, prescribing, or administering any instrument, substance, device, or other means with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy with knowledge that termination will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of an unborn child
– Detectable human heartbeat: embryonic or fetal cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the heart within the gestational sac
–Medical Emergency: a condition in which an abortion is necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman. No such greater risk shall be deemed to exist if it is based on a diagnosis or claim of a mental or emotional condition of the pregnant woman or that the pregnant woman will purposefully engage in conduct which she intends to result in her death or in substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.
– Medically Futile: in reasonable medical judgment, an unborn child has a profound and irremediable congenital or chromosomal anomaly that is incompatible with sustaining life after birth
– Spontaneous abortion: the naturally occurring death of an unborn child, including a miscarriage or stillbirth
Read the full document here:
Also check out the GA DPH publication “A Woman’s Right to Know”https://dph.georgia.gov/womens-right-know-wrtk
Don’t be misled by political scare tactics. Get the facts and know your rights. If you’re facing an unplanned pregnancy, you have options, and we are here to help you make an empowered choice.
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