Georgia's new "fetal pain" law threatens doctors with 10-year prison terms, criminalizes nearly all abortions after 20 weeks.
Atlanta - Georgia's new "fetal pain" law threatens doctors with 10-year prison terms, criminalizes nearly all abortions after 20 weeks, and grants state prosecutors "unfettered access" to women's private medical records, three doctors claim in court.
Three gynecologists who perform a limited number of pre-viability abortions sued Gov. Nathan Deal and other state officials, challenging Georgia House Bill 954, which Deal signed into law on May 1 and is to take effect on Jan. 1, 2013.
Seven other states - Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma - have similar "fetal pain" bills.
Georgia's bill states that a fetus is viable, with a functioning nervous system, at 20 weeks after fertilization, and can feel pain, therefore it is the state's duty to protect the fetus.
The three plaintiff physicians, and other medical experts, disagree on the date after fertilization that a fetus is viable.
"With very narrow exceptions, the Act bans all abortions starting at 20 weeks, which is a pre-viability point in pregnancy a point at which the fetus does not have a reasonable likelihood of sustained survival outside the woman," the doctors, all women, say in complaint.
"Where a healthy woman is carrying a healthy, singleton fetus, viability generally occurs at 22 weeks post-fertilization. In many instances in which the woman is sick, the fetus is compromised in some way, and/or it is a multi-fetal pregnancy, the fetus does not become viable until later in the pregnancy, if at all."
The also allows sanctions upon medical licenses, and imprisonment of up to 10 years, to doctors who perform post-20-week abortions.
The bill contains no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, but offers a narrow window for abortions due to the health of the mother or for some fetal abnormalities.
It would be up to a state agency to determine whether an abortion was necessary, by compelling physicians to file an abortion report with the Georgia Department of Health.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/12/05/52845.htm