(30 May 2019) "On May 7th 2019 Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. That can be as early as six weeks, before many women know they're pregnant.
The signing caps weeks of tension and protests at the state Capitol, and begins what could be a lengthy and costly legal battle over the law's constitutionality.
Anti-abortion activists and lawmakers across the country, energized by the new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court that includes President Donald Trump appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, are pushing abortion bans in an attack on the high court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide until a fetus is developed enough to live outside a woman's uterus.
Under current law, women in Georgia can seek an abortion during the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy. If it's not blocked in court, the new ban would take effect January 1st 2020.
HB 481 makes exceptions in the case of rape and incest - if the woman files a police report first - and to save the life of the mother. It also would allow for abortions when a fetus is determined not to be viable because of serious medical issues.
In the first few months of 2019, ""heartbeat abortion"" bans have been signed into law in four states: Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio, and now Georgia. Lawmakers in a number of other states including Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia are considering similar proposals. A bill that recently passed the Alabama House would outlaw abortions at any stage of pregnancy, with a few narrow exceptions.
Kentucky's law was immediately challenged by the ACLU after it was signed in March, and a federal judge temporarily blocked it.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, about 33,000 abortions were provided in Georgia in 2014.
***
Protesters against a Missouri bill banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy disrupted debate and marched through the halls of the state Capitol on May 17th.
Dozens of abortion rights supporters were told to leave the House visitors' galleries after interrupting debate with chants of ""when you lie, people die"" and ""women's rights are human rights"".
They then marched through the halls, stopping to chant outside Governor Mike Parson's office before circling around the House chamber.
They chanted ""Vote no, now"" as the Republican-led House was passing the legislation, then switched to chants of ""shame, shame, shame"".
The legislation now goes to Parson, a Republican, who is expected to sign it into law.
***
Hundreds of demonstrators marched to the Alabama Capitol on May 19th to protest the state's newly approved abortion ban, chanting ""my body, my choice!"" and ""vote them out!""
The demonstration came days after Governor Kay Ivey signed the most stringent abortion law in the nation - making performing an abortion a felony in nearly all cases unless necessary for the mother's health.
The law provides no exception for rape and incest.
***
Supporters of abortion rights rallied at the Georgia State Capitol as part of a national campaign responding to states that have passed new abortion restrictions.
Alabama's law is the most restrictive, making abortion a felony in nearly all cases with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
Georgia's law confers personhood on a fetus, leading to conflicting interpretations about whether a woman who gets an abortion could be charged with murder.
***
Abortion rights supporters object to the constitutional amendment.
***
00:50:19"
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
Информация по комментариям в разработке