Dan Becker, the president of Georgia Right to Life, is facing off with state House Republicans whom he believes might waver on supporting a bill that would cut the time for elective abortions and tighten medical exemptions for treating pregnant women.
His confrontation with Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, who has anti-abortion credentials, left her flustered and complaining near noon Wednesday. Cooper said Becker threatened her political career.
"Representative Cooper is not the only one I've talked to," Becker said.
He said this is a "political action year" in which Georgia Right to Life will target Republicans during election campaigns whom the organization believes don't support its agenda.
House Bill 954, which will be debated Wednesday on the House floor, would reduce the time period for when an elective abortion can occur from about 26 weeks to 20 weeks.
It's author, Rep. Doug McKillip, R-Athens, says a fetus can feel pain and react to stimulus at that point so the state has a duty to protect it.
The bill does not make exceptions for rape or incest and says any fetus delivered after 20 weeks must be delivered in a way that tries to keep it alive.
Some doctors claim the bill's language restricting medical exceptions to abortions between 20 and 26 weeks will prevent them from treating mothers who are having problems.
"This bill is delegating medical calls from on high," said Dr. Ruth Cline, an obstetrician from Athens.
Cline said the language of the bill is so restrictive that doctors would be fearful of treating a problem pregnancy for fear of being charged with a felony. For instance, if a pregnant woman's water breaks at 21 weeks, doctors would be fearful of providing medical care that would result in the abortion of the fetus, she said.
HB 954 would be the first significant abortion measure passed by the Legislature in three years.
Similar fetal-pain bills have been passed in at least five other states.
Becker said he believes the bill is "the most significant challenge to [the court ruling that legalized abortion] in the nation."
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