In an unusual maneuver, the Georgia Senate Rules Committee met to vote on SB 209, which would ban women from getting abortion in Georgia after 20 weeks, but without any discussion, replaced that bill with another bill that would prohibit women from getting an abortion in any medical facility other than a hospital.
Pro-choice supporters are descending on the Capitol to protest. This procedure moved a bill forward without adequate notice or hearings. This bill would effectively make abortion inaccessible in Georgia.
Janelle Yamarick, community services director at the Feminist Women’s Health Center of DeKalb County, GA, pointed out that 95 percent of abortions are performed in private doctors’ offices, licensed surgical centers, and clinics. Yamarick clarified, “To put it in a nutshell abortions would be legal in Georgia, you just couldn’t get one.”
The Committee will reconvene this morning to vote on the bill. If the Committee votes for the bill, it must vote again next week in order for the bill to go to the Georgia Senate floor for a vote.
