State lawmakers say they don’t have plans to make changes to the state’s abortion laws in this year’s legislative session despite the death, first reported last year, of a Georgia woman from postabortion complications because medical professionals had trouble interpreting the law.
House Speaker Jon Burns told reporters Wednesday he does not expect to take up legislation that could clarify the state’s abortion law, which bans the procedure in most cases once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, typically around six weeks of pregnancy.
Nonprofit news organization ProPublica reported last year that two Georgia women died from complications after receiving abortions, both of which the state’s maternal mortality review committee had deemed to be “preventable.” In one case, after Amber Thurman’s abortion did not complete, doctors waited for 20 hours before performing surgery out of fear of violating state law.
That prompted the state’s Department of Public Health to clarify that providing lifesaving treatment to pregnant women doesn’t violate the law. The state told health care facilities and providers that the law does not require death of the mother be imminent for a doctor to determine a medical emergency exists.
Georgia law allows later abortions in limited instances: if there is a medical emergency threatening the life of the mother, if the pregnancy is medically futile, or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest and the victim has filed a police report.
The law says abortions may occur if a pregnancy is “medically futile,” but doctors have said that is not a medical term and it’s unclear whether the child must be likely to die at birth, within an hour or months later. The law’s exception for a “medical emergency” is also difficult for doctors to interpret because there is no bright line determining when a person is at risk of death.
“I think our law is clear,” Burns said. “And certainly one of the things that we all should do is communicate, and we should communicate the facts. I think our law is clear in the ‘heartbeat bill,’ (and) I think there should be an understanding from physicians, they’re very intelligent folks, on how the ‘heartbeat bill’ works.”
Anti-abortion advocates often refer to laws like Georgia’s as a “heartbeat bill,” despite the fact that at six weeks, what will soon be the heart hasn’t developed yet.
Instead, Burns said he plans to take steps to protect in vitro fertilization, a fertility procedure that tens of thousands of people across the country use to have children.
The IVF process includes fertilizing an egg that can either be placed directly in the uterus or be frozen for future use. Oftentimes, unused embryos are discarded, given to other people seeking children or donated to science.
He announced his plans to codify access to IVF months after an Alabama Supreme Court opinion earlier last year sent the fertility industry into confusion when it ruled embryos created using the process were “extrauterine children,” granting embryos the same rights as any other child in that state.
According to that decision, if embryos are destroyed, it would be considered the “wrongful death of a minor.” Alabama has since enacted a law that extends legal protections to fertility clinics if embryos are harmed.
Burns said he doesn’t think Georgia’s law is unclear around embryos, but he wants to “be proactive and not reactive.”
A 2019 Georgia law that limits when abortions can be given also granted legal rights to embryos — often referred to as “personhood.” However, Georgia’s law specified that the embryo or fetus is an “unborn child” only when it is “carried in the womb.”
“As far as protections, we just want to continue to make sure that it is in the code, in legislation and in policy, that there won’t be any limitations to folks taking advantage of the process to pursue (having children),” he said.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, president of the state Senate, has also indicated he backs legislation to preserve access to IVF. His office declined to comment on IVF legislation, saying the policy would be led by the House.
Democrats in both chambers introduced bills to protect IVF after the Alabama ruling, but the legislation received no traction. Senate Minority Whip Kim Jackson said the Democratic Caucus will work again this year to protect the procedure.
“We, last year, called for protections around IVF, and will certainly champion the protection of IVF for all Georgians,” Jackson said. “We do have on record from the House their commitment to protecting IVF, and so that gives us some sense of being able to push forward, making sure that we ensure these protections.”
Many anti-abortion advocates struggle with the practice of discarding unused embryos, saying they believe life begins at conception.
IVF is often a numbers game. Doctors typically seek to create three healthy embryos per live birth. People desiring more than one child seek to create several embryos that may often go unused for various reasons.
Cole Muzio, founder and president of the conservative Frontline Policy Council, said his organization does not plan to fight IVF legislation, even though it does not support the procedure in concept.
“I’m pro-life. I believe that every human being is valuable from conception forward,” he said. “So when we look at IVF, you have so many lives that are discarded. Those are human beings that end up in (the) trash. To me, that’s kind of a horrifying concept.”
The Georgia General Assembly begins its legislative session next week. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is running articles every day this week previewing some of the action. Stick with the AJC throughout the session for the most comprehensive coverage in the state.
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