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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 20 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USAbortion bill changed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia lawmakers have strengthened the language in the only abortion-related bill likely to pass the 2007 Legislative session, which wraps up today.
The latest version of House Bill 147, crafted by a six-member House and Senate conference committee, states that in all cases in which a pregnant woman is seeking an abortion, a medical provider must offer her a chance to view the fetal image and hear the fetal heart before the pregnancy is terminated.
The bill now assumes that everyone seeking an abortion will be given an ultrasound,”said state Sen. Nancy Schaefer (R-Turnerville), who has argued for the measure in the Senate. “Most doctors, hospitals, even abortion clinics give the ultrasound. They want to know the gestational period of the baby for their own protection.”
The new version of HB 147 also states that its purpose is to:
-Ensure that every woman considering an abortion receive complete information on the reality and status of her pregnancy;
-Protect unborn children from a woman’s uninformed decision to have an abortion;
-Reduce the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed.;
Several proposals related to ultrasounds for women seeking abortions have floated through both the House and Senate this year. One early version of the bill would have required medical providers to perform an ultrasound on a woman seeking an abortion.
Then, lawmakers changed the bill to require medical providers to simply offer a woman an ultrasound.
The current version of HB 147 states that the ultrasound should “contain the dimensions of the unborn child, and accurately portray the presence of external members and internal organs, including but not limited to the heartbeat, if present or viewable, of the unborn child.”
The bill also stipulates that prior to an abortion, the woman must certify in writing whether she decided to view the sonogram and listen to the fetal heartbeat, if present.
Both the House and Senate must approve conference committee version of HB 147 today.
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