Heartbeat bill passes Georgia Senate
FREE Catholic Classes
The Georgia Senate has approved a bill that would ban abortions after an unborn baby's heartbeat can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy.

Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
3/26/2019 (6 years ago)
Published in U.S.
Keywords: Heartbeat bill, Georgia Senate, catholic news
Atlanta, Ga., (CNA) - The state Senate passed House Bill 481 on Friday. It will now return to the House, which has already approved an initial version of the bill but will now need to vote on changes made by the Senate.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp applauded the bill's progress. He is expected to sign the legislation if it comes to his desk.
The legislation would prohibit doctors from performing abortions after a baby's heartbeat is detected. Those who do could lose their medical licenses. It includes an exception for cases of rape or incest, as well as if doctors determine that a pregnant woman's life is in danger or that the baby would not survive.
Current Georgia laws bans abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
If signed into law, the legislation is likely to face legal challenges. The ACLU has already said it is prepared to file a lawsuit against the measure. A similar law in Kentucky was blocked by a federal judge just hours after going into effect.
Tennessee's Catholic bishops chose to oppose their state's heartbeat bill over concerns that it would not stand up to judicial scrutiny. They voiced concern that it was an imprudent approach to fighting legal abortion, citing other states where legal challenges to such bills ended up further enshrining a legal "right to abortion" and forcing the state to pay significant sums of money to the lawyers representing the pro-abortion challengers to the laws.
In a March 22 opinion piece for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Rep. Ed Setzler, who sponsored the Georgia heartbeat bill, argued that it is both scientifically and legally sound.
"[S]cience tells us that a child with a beating heart has crossed the definitive scientific threshold in which they have a 95 percent chance of being carried to term and the definitive medical threshold that for centuries has established the presence of human life: the heartbeat," he said.
The Georgia representative also argued that the heartbeat bill can survive a legal challenge. He said it is unique among other similar state legislation because it establishes "the legal personhood of the unborn child," building on "the long established foundation of a state's authority to recognize a person's rights more expansively than the minimum required by federal law."
Setzler said the bill is an effort to balance "the individual liberty of pregnant mothers with the right to life of the distinct persons living inside of them." He noted that it would ensure new benefits for pregnant women, including "access to child support from the baby's father and a full dependent tax deduction."
The Georgia Catholic Conference has encouraged support for the legislation.
"The core of the bill is a prohibition against abortion after a detectable fetal heartbeat, usually six to eight weeks after conception," the conference said. "While we understand life to begin at conception, not heartbeat, this language is as close as the authors think we can come and still withstand challenge in court."
The conference more that the bill "contains exceptions in the case of rape, threatened death of the mother, or a medically futile diagnosis, all of which are exceptions that we would prefer were not permitted. Nonetheless, we recommend support because it would prohibit many abortions that are legal today."
---
'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'
Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.
-
- Easter / Lent
- Ascension Day
- 7 Morning Prayers
- Mysteries of the Rosary
- Litany of the Bl. Virgin Mary
- Popular Saints
- Popular Prayers
- Female Saints
- Saint Feast Days by Month
- Stations of the Cross
- St. Francis of Assisi
- St. Michael the Archangel
- The Apostles' Creed
- Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony
- Pray the Rosary

What Really Happens to the Brain During Pregnancy? A Catholic Look at One Groundbreaking Study

Pope Leo XIV to Religious Sisters: Let God Be Your Everything

Catholic Online AI Open Letter
Daily Catholic
Daily Readings for Tuesday, July 01, 2025
St. Junipero Serra: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, July 01, 2025
Prayer of the Chalice: Prayer of the Day for Tuesday, July 01, 2025
Daily Readings for Monday, June 30, 2025
First Martyrs of the See of Rome: Saint of the Day for Monday, June 30, 2025
- Good Night My Guardian Angel: Prayer of the Day for Monday, June 30, 2025
Copyright 2025 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2025 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.