Georgia Lawmaker Promotes Abortion Ban, Prospects Better Now

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 10, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Georgia Lawmaker Promotes Abortion Ban, Prospects Better Now Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 10
, 2007

Atlanta, GA (LifeNews.com) — Georgia appears to be the next state that will have a full-scale debate about whether to ban abortions as one legislator has proposed a measure that would prohibit virtually all abortions there. The prospects for the bill are better than before as pro-life advocates made gains in the state legislature following the November elections.

Rep. Bobby Franklin, a Republican, is behind the measure and it would prohibit all abortions except for those to save the life of the mother.

And in those circumstances, the bill asks doctors to do everything possible to save the life of both mother and child.

“We expect great things to happen with this bill this year,’’ he told the Gwinnett Daily Post newspaper.

“I know this is not the most popular thing to do,’’ Rep. Melvin Everson, a Republican co-sponsor added. “It’s the right thing to do.’’

Linda Schlueter, vice president of the Texas-based Justice Foundation, a pro-life law firm which has worked to make the public aware of the millions of women who regret their abortions, supports the legislation.

“Abortion hurts women physically and psychologically,’’ she told Georgia lawmakers in an informal hearing about the bill, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post newspaper. “That is the reality these women are speaking.’’

During the Tuesday hearing, Schlueter’s group filed affidavits from 2,000 women who wish they hadn’t had their abortions who want to see abortion made illegal.

The Georgia Christian Coalition is backing the bill but Dionne Vann, interim executive director of NARAL’s Georgia affiliate, told the Post that her group strongly opposes it.

“We don’t feel it represents the majority of the people of Georgia’s opinions on abortion, so it’s not going to go anywhere,’’ she promised.

Last year, 56 percent of voters rejected a statewide abortion ban that state lawmakers approved there. The legislature may consider a revised ban that would also include abortion exceptions for rape and incest. In Mississippi, an abortion ban advanced through several steps of the legislative process but was ultimately stalled before getting to the governor.

Also last year, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco signed a trigger law that would have the state ban abortions once Roe v. Wade is overturned. Lawmakers in Utah and Oklahoma are proposing similar trigger laws in their states.