Amongst the recent Twitter outrage and in-your-face Instagram protesting by angry leftists, the facts of Georgia’s controversial House Bill 481 have purposely become foggy. Signed into law on May 7th by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, the new heartbeat law which restricts abortion when a heartbeat can be detected (usually around the 6th week of pregnancy) has caused an unprecedented amount of social media noise and fake news. Pro-abortion advocates have made this Georgia law present on feeds across the country and even across the world, regardless of if the targeted audience regularly participates in the political sphere.
Through the tactics of cyber screaming and spreading grave misinformation, the leftist lies of Georgia’s HB 481 have been smeared across almost every social media outlet; this intentional deception has been put forth to spread lies, manipulate, and ultimately recruit innocent people who are wrapped up in the newest leftist scheme. Working together with popular media outlets that are more than happy to perpetuate the blatant mischaracterization of information, these schemes prove to be somewhat successful if there is a lack of voices to refute the falsities claimed by the left.
Headlines such as “Women who have an abortion in Georgia could be sentenced to life in prison”, “Georgia’s ‘heartbeat’ abortion bill could imprison women for life”, “In Georgia, Women May Receive a Death Sentence for Choosing Abortion”, and “Women could get up to 30 years in prison for having a miscarriage under Georgia’s harsh new abortion law” from outlets like Glamour, The Week, NPQ, and Business Insider actively and consciously add fuel to fire of lies. Even BBC reporters such as Allen Neil have been guilty of reporting to his viewers the ‘objective truth’, which happens to be fabricated inferences with no concrete evidence behind them. The claims below have been heavily publicized to the masses, and thus must be addressed:
“Women who have abortions or miscarriages could go to jail, or even receive the death penalty”
This claim has been by far the most widespread of all. It is arguably the most significant aspect to get wrong about HB 481; the assumption that HB 481 criminalizes abortion on a scale comparable to the penalty for homicide is incorrect. The heartbeat bill coincides with Georgia criminal statutes that have existed long before the LIFE act ever was written. HB 481 explicitly applies only to abortions and unborn children; it has no intention to repeal past guidelines, therefore having no legal authority in terms of the criminalization of abortion.
As David French of the National Review points out, “there is a specific code section that applies to unlawful abortions” already in place that has not been altered in any way. Georgia Code Section 16-12-140 states:
(a) A person commits the offense of criminal abortion when, in violation of Code Section 16-12-141 , he or she administers any medicine, drugs, or other substance whatever to any woman or when he or she uses any instrument or other means whatever upon any woman with intent to produce a miscarriage or abortion.
(b) A person convicted of the offense of criminal abortion shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years.
Code Section 16-12-141 refers to the portion that was amended to include the heartbeat provision. If the heartbeat bill is violated during the performing of an illegal abortion, Code Section 16-12-140 applies. It does not involve life imprisonment for anybody involved, or the death penalty for that matter. French later reassured that “Georgia courts have held that it does not apply to a woman who self-terminates, only to third parties who perform an abortion.” Even the Washington Post exclaims that even though “Georgia’s law does not unequivocally say that women are exempt, … legal experts point to other areas of Georgia’s penal code which have specific defenses for women, including those who miscarry.” Planned Parenthood’s own Staci Fox asserted that “HB 481 could not be used to successfully prosecute women.”
In relation to circumstances of miscarriage, women will not be prosecuted regardless of the miscarriage being a real or faked occurrence. Just as women who have abortions illegally under HB 481, the only party that could assume legal penalty is the illegal abortion provider.
Ultimately, while abortionists can be prosecuted for administering unlawful abortions, and a physical attacker can spend countless years in prison for purposefully murdering a woman’s unborn child due to the criminalization of feticide, Georgia’s heartbeat bill cannot be used to prosecute a woman for ending her own pregnancy.
“There is no exception to this law in cases of rape or incest”
If these leftist Twitter trolls & popular media outlets alike even read HB 481, their egregious assumptions would have been struck down before they had the chance to push back. Stated directly in HB 481, from lines 121 to 124, is the answer to the line of questioning relating to exemptions in cases of rape or incest.
“The probable gestational age of the unborn child is 20 weeks or less and the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest in which an official police report has been filed alleging the offense of rape or incest”; this addition to the LIFE (Living Infants Fairness and Equality) act ensures that women who have become pregnant due to rape or incest have 20 weeks, the same amount of time afforded to women having abortions for any reason prior to HB 481.
“This law strips women of their bodily autonomy, therefore reducing reproductive rights”
Bodily autonomy, by definition, means that a person has control over whom or what uses their body, for what, and for how long. Essentially, they are in charge of their own body, and no one else is. This sphere covers ownership of and decisions relating to one’s own body.
“Reproductive rights” entail reproductive health care, sex education, accessibility to contraceptives, and prenatal services.
Nowhere in either meaning of bodily autonomy or reproductive rights does abortion apply. Contrary to popular, unscientific belief, children growing within their mother’s womb are entirely separate entities; babies who, upon conception, are gifted with a unique DNA code that determines physical appearance and even personality traits, are living beings whose right to life should be protected. The ‘clump of cells’ in a womb will not be a dog, or a fish; this child will develop as a human being. Labeling abortion as ‘healthcare’ is not only dishonest, but wrong. It is not within any woman’s right to make the choice to kill her own child; abortion is not a ‘reproductive right’, and abortion and bodily autonomy are direct opposites.
“Lawmakers are forcing women to have children”
It is safe to say that the vast majority of, if not all, women having sex in the United States understand how babies are produced. No one forces a woman to participate in sex, except in cases of rape. There is no guarantee in terms of contraceptives of any kind proving to be effective 100% of the time. The left either has a very difficult time understanding this, or wants to create an excuse for women across the country to add to the 2,600 babies killed each day from abortion. Restricting a mother from murdering her own child is not forcing her to have children; for the highlighted claim to be true, lawmakers would have to force women to participate in the actions that lead to pregnancy, which is obviously not what is occurring in Georgia.
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