Georgia’s heartbeat law must stay in force

Days after her election, Bottoms said she would pursue repeal; Georgia’s Senate must keep the heartbeat law protecting unborn children off the table.

On Nov. 6, Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms said she would work to repeal Georgia’s abortion restrictions, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Speaking to reporters at the Georgia Capitol, Bottoms said that if Democrats “see a pathway” to address the law when the legislative session kicks off in January, they would “take that opportunity,” the AJC reported. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted Bottoms: “It may not be this session,” she cautioned. “We know that whole ballot energy has helped us flip the House, and we have some very thin margins in the Senate. So we’ll begin to have those conversations, and we’ll see if it can be done soon.”

The AJC reported that Bottoms’s proposed repeal aligns with campaign promises to restore standards from before Roe v. Wade was overturned¹. WABE reports that she also promised full Medicaid expansion and increased access to abortion rights². Georgia Life Alliance, reporting from her first transition press conference, said she will consult House and Senate leaders and move on the six-week ban "as soon as it is possible³."

HB 481 protects unborn children after a heartbeat

The law she means to undo is HB 481, which WABE reports she favors rolling back². Passed in 2019, it bans abortion once a "detectable human heartbeat" is found, unless a physician determines the pregnancy is "medically futile," AccessNorthGA reports. The same law expanded Georgia's definition of "natural person" to include an unborn child. In practice, AccessNorthGA reports, it limits many abortions to six weeks⁴.

Read those lines the way a family reads them. A heartbeat on an ultrasound screen is the moment many parents first see their child, and Georgia law treats that moment as one the state must honor. Repeal would not tidy up legislative language; it would take the child back out of the definition of a person and remove the protection that begins with a heartbeat. Every family that believes a child in the womb has dignity has a stake in that text.

Bottoms says repeal may come later

Bottoms knows that text will not fall easily, and she said so. Bottoms said repeal might not happen in the coming session. Georgia Life Alliance quoted her finishing the thought: "If it's not this session, then we're going to take that first opportunity that we have³."

That is a timetable, not a retreat. Democrats hold the House by razor-thin margins, and Republicans keep a narrow Senate majority, AccessNorthGA reports⁴. WABE reports she needs votes from both chambers to deliver most of her health pledges². The Senate is where Bottoms’s repeal effort must be stopped.

The Senate should keep repeal off the table

One senator has already answered her. "This is a non-starter for a divided government. Repealing the Heartbeat Bill will not get through our chamber," said state Sen. Drew Echols, a Gainesville Republican, AccessNorthGA reports. He offered her a better use of the session: "How about lowering utility bills and extending Governor Kemp’s gas tax suspension⁴?"

Bottoms has a cost-of-living list of her own, which includes grocery-tax relief, housing, Medicaid and education in her first budget, WABE reports². She can argue for that agenda on the merits without putting unborn children on the bargaining table. Every Republican senator should stand where Echols stands and say so before January, so no repeal bill gets a hearing. Pro-life Georgians should call their senators now; as Georgia Life Alliance put it, "Your lawmakers still want to hear from you³." The heartbeat law is not up for trade, and the Senate should keep it that way.

Georgia’s heartbeat law must stay in force

HB 481 protects unborn children after a heartbeat

Bottoms says repeal may come later

The Senate should keep repeal off the table

Sources