Reproductive Freedom

• Georgia has the 5th lowest number of policies supportive of the health of women and children (ex: Georgia does not require reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees).
• The CDC lists Georgia’s rate of pregnancy-related deaths as 28.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2018-2020, among the ten highest in the country.
• Between 2015 and 2017, the Georgia Department of Public Health recognized 87% of pregnancy-related deaths over the time period were preventable.
• Black women are 2.3 times as likely to die from pregnancy as white women in the state of Georgia.

• Abortions were allowed until 22.0 weeks last menstrual period (LMP), with narrow exceptions for after that week.
• In 2019, the abortion rate in Georgia was 16.9 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. 65% of patients were Black, 21% white, 9% Hispanic, 5% “other race”.
• 87% of Georgia abortion patients are unmarried and more than 60% already have at least one child.
• Abortion is safer than pregnancy, with complications occurring in fewer than 1% of abortions.

Restrictions

• 24 hour waiting period (O.C.G.A. § 31-9A-3(2))

• Young people have to notify a parent or get a court order (§ 15-11-682)

• Nurse practitioners et al are prohibited from providing abortion services despite there being no medically necessary reason for this limitation (§ 16-12-141(B), 43-34-110, 43-34-25(L),

• Medicaid, with very narrow exceptions, will not cover abortion.

• Health plans offered on the state insurance exchange (§ 33-24-59.17) or employee state health plans (§ 45-18-4) cannot cover abortion.

• Section 10 of H.B. 481 requires that, before performing an abortion, a physician first make “a determination of the presence of a detectable human heartbeat.
• As amended by H.B. 481 § 3, “[d]etectable human heartbeat” is defined as “embryonic or fetal cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the heart within the gestational sac.” 
• Section 4 then provides that “[n]o abortion is authorized or shall be performed if an” embryo/fetus “has been determined . . . to have a detectable human heartbeat,” and “[n]o abortion is authorized or shall be performed in violation of” the code section requiring such a determination. H.B. 481.

• Section 4 also contains exceptions to the Six Week Ban:

  • Medical emergency exception: allows for an abortion in the case of a patient’s medical emergency, but expressly prohibits a physician from considering “a diagnosis or claim of a mental or emotional condition. . .or that the pregnant woman will purposefully engage in” suicide, self-harm, or dangerous behaviors likely to result in death or self-harm. (codified in O.C.G.A. §16-12-141(b)(1), (a)(3)).

  • Rape/Incest resulting in pregnancy that is at or below 22 weeks LMP but only when “an official police report has been filed alleging the offense of rape or incest.” (codified at O.C.G.A. §16-12-141(b)(2)).

  • When the “physician determines, in reasonable medical judgment, that the pregnancy is medically futile,” defined as when the embryo/fetus has anomaly that is incompatible with sustaining life after birth. (codified at O.C.G.A. §16-12-141(a)(4), (b)(3)).

• Potential imprisonment of 1 to 10 years. 
• Potential licensing penalties up to and including revocation, because it could constitute both “unprofessional conduct” under and independent grounds for such discipline.
• A patient may also bring a civil action against the physician for violating Section 4. H.B. 481.

• Section 2 of H.B. 481 declares that it is the policy of the State of Georgia to recognize embryos/fetuses “as natural persons,” H.B. 481 § 2(6); purporting to promote a “more expansive state recognition of embryos/fetuses “as persons”.
• Section 3 of H.B. 481 amends O.C.G.A. § 1-2-1 – which contains definitions of “Persons and their Rights” that apply throughout the Georgia Code - to define “natural person” as including “any human being including an unborn child,” and defines “unborn child” as an embryo/fetus “at any stage of development” in utero. 
• Mandates the inclusion in “population based determinations” of all “natural persons,” including embryos/fetuses in utero with “a detectable human heartbeat.” 

• H.B. 481 gives GA prosecutors in both the judicial circuit where the abortion provider is located and the judicial circuit where the patient resides with seemingly unrestricted access to personal health and medical records, without giving the patient due process rights.