WASHINGTON – Georgia’s state governor, Brian Kemp, signed a bill Tuesday barring abortion if the fetus’s heartbeat is detected, a rule that was ruled unconstitutional in January after it was approved in Iowa and the American Civil Liberties (ACLU, in English) will appeal.
Currently, in the state of Georgia, a woman can perform an abortion until the 20th week of her pregnancy, but the new legislation considers any interruption of pregnancy illegal if the fetal heartbeat is detected, something that happens at the sixth week, when the Woman may not yet know of her pregnancy.
“The rule is very simple but also very powerful: It is a statement that all life has value, it matters and it is worthy of protection,” Republican Kemp said in statements to local media when signing the law at the state Capitol.
The ACLU organization has already announced that it will appeal the law because it will “prohibit safe, legal abortion and criminalize the most intimate decision made by women and couples.”
One of the Republican state legislators who has promoted the initiative, Ed Setzler, has described abortion as “barbaric procedure” in his past interventions.
“Setzler also considered that” there are many other options for women, including adoption and the morning-after pill. “
Outside the Capitol of Georgia dozens of people protested against the legislation.
Several women dressed in white coats and aprons as in the Mennonite communities and held a silent protest with signs that said “trust women,” according to local media reports.
This antiabortion law is the most restrictive in the country and was previously approved in the state of Iowa, although it is now paralyzed by a court.
Last January it was declared unconstitutional with respect to the Magna Carta of the State of Iowa and could cease to apply.
Polk County Judge Michael Huppert considered that rule “contrary to the law, contemplated as fundamental in the Iowa Constitution, of a woman to decide whether to interrupt a pregnancy.”
Thus, the judge cited several previous cases in which a federal-higher-level court of the United States Circuit of Appeals indicated in 2015 and 2016 that this type of regulation was unconstitutional. (EFEUSA)
