ACLU of GA

 

Dear ACLU of Georgia Supporter,
 

 

Dear ACLU of Georgia Supporter,

As many of you know, the Georgia General Assembly has declared an all out war on women's reproductive rights.  The following anti-choice bills have passed either the House or the Senate this session:

HB 954: seeks to ban all abortions beginning at 20 weeks after conception except to "avert the death of the pregnant woman or avert serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman." No other exceptions are provided. Sponsors of HB 954 admit that they are seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which guarantee that women have the constitutional right to choose prior to viability (around 24 weeks). This bill has already passed the House so we MUST DEFEAT it in the Senate.

SB 438: forbids state employees from obtaining abortion coverage through the state insurance plan with the same insufficient exception from HB 954. Again, no other exceptions are made.

SB 460: allows religious employers to opt-out of a state law which requires that all insurance companies provide coverage for contraception.  This law has been in effect since 1999 and religious organizations had never complained about this provision until the recent media firestorm over contraception coverage.

This past Monday, over 500 women joined the ACLU of Georgia at the "March in my Shoes" rally at the State Capitol to voice opposition to these anti-choice bills.  We are asking you again to take IMMEDIATE ACTION in support of women's reproductive rights.  Specifically, we are encouraging all of you to actively oppose HB 954 which will be voted on in the Senate Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee THIS Monday.  We hope to defeat this inhumane bill before it goes to the Senate Floor.  If this bill makes it to the Floor, which could happen as early as Thursday, it will most likely pass.

Here are ways that you can get involved this week:

1. Attend the Senate Committee Hearing on HB 954 on MONDAY, March 19, from 2:30 - 4:30 pm in Capitol Room 450
2. Attend "By the People Lobby Day" on TUESDAY, March 20, from 9 - 11:30 am in Room 650 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building, located on Mitchell Street across the street from the Capitol.
3. Call these targeted Republican leaders and tell them to vote NO on HB 954"
   *Lt. Governor Casey Cagle: (404) 656-5030
   *Senator Renee Unterman, Chair of Senate Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee: (404) 463-1368
   *Senator David Shafer, Member of Senate HHS Committee: (404) 656-0048
   *Senator Tommie Williams, Majority Leader and Member of Senate HHS Committee: (404) 656-0089
   *Senator Fran Miller, Member of Senate HHS Committee: (404) 463-2260
4. Call your Senator and tell him/her to vote NO on HB 954.  You can find your representative here: http://www.votesmart.org


Here are some suggested talking points in opposing HB 954:

*     Every woman's pregnancy is different. One size fits all legislation like HB 954 can cause harm to women and their families.

*     One of the most tragic things that can happen to a pregnant woman and her loved ones is to discover that something has gone terribly wrong with her pregnancy -- either a fatal condition or genetic fetal anomaly that will cause a serious impairment. Often nothing can be done to give this future baby a chance for a normal life - perhaps not even a chance for life itself. It is cruel and inhumane to force a woman to carry a fetus to term when she knows the baby will never be able to live a healthy life.

*     HB 954 leaves no exception for serious fetal anomalies that would present during the middle weeks of a pregnancy. Many women do not find out about serious fetal anomalies until 20 weeks or later. It also does not provide an exception for mental health, or rape, or incest.

Later abortions are rare. Nationally, less than 1.4% of abortions occur past 20 weeks.

*     It is vital that physicians have the ability to protect their patient's health by providing an abortion when medically appropriate. For example, if a woman is diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy, or becomes pregnant while she has cancer, she must have an abortion in order to receive life-saving cancer treatment. Women can also experience health conditions related to the pregnancy itself, such as preeclampsia or high blood pressure, conditions that could threaten her health.

*     Passage of HB 954 would require a fiscal note and revenue budgeted in order to fulfill the reporting requirements of the bill. HB 954 requires the Department of Community Health to collect substantial data from physicians who perform abortions and to issue a public report providing statistics from all the reports from the previous calendar year. Such requirements will affect more than obstetricians, gynecologists and peri-natalogists, as emergency room doctors will also be burdened.

*     HB 954 does not require protection of the identity of the physicians who performed or attempted to perform abortions in the public report to be published by the Department of Community Health. Because of violence against abortion providers his bill will put Georgia's doctors in danger.

*     There is no "substantial medical evidence" that fetuses are capable of feeling pain as indicated in the findings of HB 954. The prevailing scientific understanding, endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, is that the capacity for functional pain perception may begin around week 29-30-well into the third trimester.

*     HB 954 is unconstitutional because it fails to adequately protect women's health. The Supreme Court has repeatedly required an exception for circumstances when abortion "is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health" of the woman, and this bill fails to do that with its completely inadequate health exception.

Please let us know if you will be able to join us at the Capitol on Monday or Tuesday.  If you are able to make calls to the targeted Senators, please let us know about the results of your call.


Chad Brock                                                            Joseph Rose
Lobbyist                                                              Reporductive Freedom Lobbyist

 

ACLU of Georgia
1900 The Exchange, Suite 425
Atlanta, GA  30339
(P) 770.303.8111
Fax: 770-303-0060
[email protected]

[email protected]
www.acluga.org

  
ACLU of Georgia