HB 954 passed the House in Georgia this week.

This law criminalizes abortions past 20 weeks, even in cases where the fetus has no heartbeat or will not survive to term. 

This law will also unfairly penalized low income women, who represent a larger percentage of abortions after that point, due to the time required to locate funds for the procedure.

This law requires that any measures taken after 20 weeks gestation, which can only be done to save the life of a child  or the life or “major bodily functions” of the mother,  have to be taken in a way that best preserves the life of the fetus (i.e. a Cesarean, in most cases).

Speaking in favor of this law, representative Terry England reasons that, if cows and pigs can carry deceased fetuses, so can humans (note: most vets routinely abort in such cases).

The legislation will now move to the Senate.

For more on this, please read Soraya Chemaly’s excellent post.