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Pro-Life Bills Approved By 2007 Georgia General Assembly

ATLANTA, GA – Georgia Right to Life applauds the House and Senate leadership and their respective legislators following the recent completion of the legislative session.  Pro-life advocates have examined the potential impact of the most recent session on the pro-life movement in Georgia.  “We are extremely pleased with the leadership that was shown in the House and the Senate,” stated Dan Becker, Vice-President of Georgia Right to Life.  The most recent bills join the Woman’s Right to Know Act, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and the Choose Life license tags that have been passed during the past two legislative sessions.

During the 2007 session, two pro-life bills were approved by the Georgia House and Senate and forwarded to Governor Perdue for his signature:

• Sponsored by Representative James Mills and Senator Nancy Schaefer, the Woman’s Ultrasound Right to Know Act (HB 147), passed the Georgia legislature.  HB 147 will become an extension of the Woman’s Right to Know Act and requires that the mother be offered an opportunity to view the fetal image and hear the fetal heartbeat at the conclusion of a live ultrasound.  The Ultrasound bill passed the House 100-46 and the Senate 31-17.  
  
• Sponsored by Senator David Shafer, the Saving the Cure Act (SB 148) will ensure that Georgia becomes a leading state in ethical stem cell research that does not kill a human embryo.  Also known as Keone’s Bill, SB 148 calls for the universal collection of postnatal tissue and fluid for medical research and treatment.  In addition, the legislation would create the Georgia Commission for Saving the Cure.  The bill will give every Georgia mother the opportunity to donate her postnatal tissue and fluid to the Georgia Newborn Umbilical Cord Blood Bank.  The bill also ensures that that taxpayer funding will be committed to ethical stem cell research that does not kill human embryos.   The stem cell bill passed the House 148-0 and the Senate 48-0.

Similar to previous sessions, legislation regarding life issues received widespread support.  “For the third consecutive year, the Georgia General Assembly has successfully produced pro-life legislation on behalf of the citizens of Georgia,” stated Caryl Swift, President of Georgia Right to Life. “Society has an obligation to protect all of our citizens, particularly those unable to speak for themselves.”

Georgia Right to Life is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian organization of diverse and caring people united to engage in actions that will restore respect and effective legal protection for all human beings from the moment of fertilization until natural death.

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