Legislature 2008

Lawmaker tries to link abortion, dog collar bills


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/05/08

A North Georgia lawmaker who annually introduces a bill to outlaw abortion tried Friday afternoon to graft that legislation onto a bill about dog collars.

The legislator, state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta), failed again.

On a 152-2 vote, the state House killed Franklin's amendment that would outlaw "pre-natal murder."

Franklin was joined by state Rep. Martin Scott (R-Rossville) in voting to overturn a ruling by Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) that Franklin's amendment was out of order.

"Not gonna give you a vote that you can play a game with," Richardson said. "This is a bill about collars around a dog, not your bill."

The speaker said, "Your amendment is out of order." He so ruled because the committee that sent the bill to the floor had not approved the amendment.

The bill, which started as anti-dogfighting legislation, would make it illegal for anyone to remove an electronic tracking collar from a dog without the permission of the animal's owner.

Although abortion and dog collars seem to be unrelated, both fall under the same section of the Official Code of Georgia.

As a result, blending the two might be defensible.

Richardson, visibly angered by Franklin's attempt, accused him of "abusing the rules of the House in speaking on this." The speaker allowed the full House to vote on Franklin's request to overturn that ruling. Franklin spent nearly 20 minutes in front of the full House urging his colleagues to vote for his amendment.

Franklin quoted the Bible extensively. He compared abortion providers to Adolf Hitler and Southern slave masters.

"Every year [in Georgia], there are about 40,000 babies slaughtered in their mother's wombs. That's a lot of bloodshed," Franklin said. "Let's end the bloodshed."

Earlier Friday, an impromptu coalition of pro-choice Republicans and Democrats in the House, aided by business types, jumped up and killed House Bill 1299, which had been amended by the Senate to put a near-total ban on abortions performed by public hospitals.

In its original form, the bill would have applied a list of ethical restrictions to the new nonprofit board that governs Grady Memorial Hospital.

Staff writer Jim Galloway contributed to this article.

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