Georgia senate panel approves ‘fetal pain’ anti-abortion bill
A Georgia state senate committee has voted in favor of a so-called “fetal pain” bill, a measure that would narrow the legal window during which women can legally obtain an abortion by six weeks.According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, House Bill 954 would “tighten medical exemptions for terminating pregnancies and require any abortion performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy be done in a way to bring the fetus out alive.”
The measure alleges that at 20 weeks a fetus is capable of feeling pain and therefore it must be protected by the state. Democrats, women’s groups and medical professionals have lobbied hard to defeat the measure. Democratic legislators requested that the committee recount the votes by hand, a motion that committee chair Renee Unterman (R-Buford) overruled.
Any attempts to determine fetal gestational age will require a transvaginal ultrasound, the invasive procedure that featured prominently in a controversial Virginia anti-abortion law. Also, under the new law, physicians performing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy can be charged with a felony and face up to a decade in prison.
This, just, this day, oh my god. Today is a travesty for women. I just don’t even know what to say anymore. The GOP is chipping away at our legally protected right to have an abortion. Bit by bit, they’re making it so a bunch of mostly old white men control when, where and how I have children. And then once the fucking kid is born, they’re rallying to take away my means to feed, clothe and house it. And keep it healthy. The GOP doesn’t give a shit about “preborn babies” once they’re born babies. And they really, really don’t give a shit about me or anyone else capable of carrying a pregnancy to term.
-Jess
This isn’t even remotely scientifically accurate, to boot. Fetuses cannot feel pain until 35 weeks. Not that anti-choicers have ever particularly given a shit about scientific accuracy, mind you, but this is clearly not about fetal “pain” if the threshold is 15 weeks before the fetus can actually feel pain.
