Georgia Heartbeat Bill Continues Pro-Life Success Story in States By Michael New for CNS News
On Tuesday, pro-lifers received some good news when Georgia Governor Brian Kemp finally signed Georgia’s heartbeat bill into law. The bill passed with strong majorities in both chambers of Georgia’s state legislature back in March, and throughout April, Governor Kemp indicated that he supported the measure. This piece of legislation provides legal protection for unborn children after a fetal heartbeat can be detected – usually around six weeks’ gestation. As such, Georgia becomes the fourth state this year to enact such legislation. In 2019, similar bills have already been signed into law in Mississippi, Ohio, and Kentucky.
The signing of this bill continues an impressive trend of pro-life success at the state level. The gains made by the Republican Party in many conservative state legislatures has made it far easier to enact pro-life laws. Indeed, according to the Guttmacher Institute, between 1983 and 2010, the average number of state level pro-life laws enacted annually was less than 15. However, between 2011 and 2015, meanwhile, an average of 57 state-level pro-life laws were enacted each year. Additionally, between 2000 and 2019, the number of states that Guttmacher deemed “hostile” to abortion rights increased from four to 21.
However, what is unique about many of these recent pieces of pro-life legislation is that they offer protection to a significantly larger fraction of preborn children. Much of the previous pro-life legislation was incremental in nature. Now, I am a staunch supporter of incrementalism. There is a broad body of both academic research which shows that many incremental pro-life laws – such as parental involvement laws and limits on taxpayer funding of abortion – reduce abortion rates. Furthermore, debates over incremental laws can educate the public about the permissive nature of abortion policy in this country.
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That said, the heartbeat bills that have been recently signed into law and the abortion ban that recently passed the Alabama state house all send an important message. They demonstrate that in conservative states, there is strong political support for legislation that does not merely regulate abortion, but instead provides legal protection to a substantial number of unborn children. This is important politically. It is impossible to predict the outcome of the subsequent legal challenges to any of these laws. That said, the broad picture painted by these pieces of legislation could have a substantial impact.
