Georgia House Committee Approves Pro-Life Bill Targeting Racist, Sexist Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 22, 2010
Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) — The legislation in Georgia that would ban abortions done specifically because the child is African-American or a girl jumped through its latest hurdle. The Georgia House Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 on Wednesday to vote SB 529 out of committee and send it to the Rules Committee.
The rules panel will consider the bill before it heads to the full state House floor and a vote in the committee could come as early as Tuesday.
Legislators need to move quickly because they are closing in on the 40th day, which is the last day of this legislative session
Georgia Right to Life said it was a "miracle" the bill made it out of committee.
"The hearing began with Chairman Wendell Willard offering a substitute bill that did not even resemble the original Senate version," GRTL legislative director Mike Griffin told LifeNews.com today.
"The thrust of this substitute bill was to simply require the posting of a sign stating that coerced abortions are against the law. Then there was a section dealing with not accepting funds for abortions from Obamacare. These provisions had absolutely nothing to do with the purpose and intent of the original bill," he explained.
However, in a series of procedural moves by both Democrats trying to improve the substitute, and pro-life Republicans hoping to preserve the original, a vote was forced killing the substitute and preserving the original bill.
"Faced with the prospect of not passing any pro-life legislation this session, Republicans chose to adopt SB 529 with its original wording intact" Griffin said.
The bill would prevent abortion practitioners from knowingly doing race-based or gender-based abortions. The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act would apply to abortion "the same standards of nondiscrimination" that govern employment, education, government and housing.
The vote wasn’t entirely along party lines, as one Democrat, Representative Rick Crawford, supported the legislation while Republican Representatives Jay Powell and Steven Allison adamantly opposed it.
Now GRTL says it is hoping Chairman Bill Hembree can get the bill through the House Rules Committee without Speaker David Ralston stopping the bill.
"We need all of you to keep calling Speaker Ralston and any House Representatives you know to vote in favor of this bill when it gets to the floor. We are being told that there are Republicans who will vote against this bill," Griffin urged pro-life advocates.
Related web sites:
Georgia Right to Life – https://www.grtl.org
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