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A Georgia lawmaker would make $2 million worth of state grants available to dozens of pregnancy resource centers across Georgia, saying it was a "positive alternative" to efforts restricting women's access to abortions.
"Instead of getting up and bashing and saying how awful an abortion is — which I do believe they are — this is the alternative to give people the option and reach a wider scope of pregnant women that can make what I feel like are better choices," said Senate Health and Human Services Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford, the sponsor of Senate Bill 308.
“There are approximately 70 pregnancy resource centers in Georgia, and they have a network and they are kind of the alternative in that they’re pro-life,” Unterman said. “Their goal is to provide a live birth. There are approximately 27,000 abortions each year in the state of Georgia. So this is alternative resources to kind of deter that number and bring it down.”
Unterman identifies as an anti-abortion advocate and has actively pushed a number of abortion bills in her 17 years at the Capitol, including helping to write a 2007 law requiring an ultrasound or sonogram be offered before an abortion is performed in Georgia.
But this latest attempt to reduce the number of abortion stems from controversy last year over the release of covertly filmed videos that Planned Parenthood’s critics said showed it profits from the sale of body parts after abortions. Two people involved in producing those videos were indicted earlier this week by a Texas grand jury that investigated the allegations against Planned Parenthood.
Over the summer, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle demanded that state health officials stop using public tax dollars to fund any medical services at Planned Parenthood, including those for low-income women paid for through the federal Medicaid program. That has not happened, and Unterman said she and Cagle agreed to take a different approach with the support of the Georgia Life Alliance, the state's affiliate to the National Right to Life Committee.
“Being able to support pregnancy centers in the work they already do around the state, and the men and women they serve and the babies they care for after the fact, is a wonderful opportunity for us to move in a positive direction and do something that’s good for the state,” said Kristina Twitty, the operations director and lobbyist for the alliance.
“The effort that Senator Unterman has undertaken to support pregnancy centers, we just can’t tell you how we appreciate not only her efforts but Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and the whole Senate Republican caucus for supporting something that’s a positive direction.”
Unterman said the money would especially help centers in more rural areas of Georgia, which struggle for funding.
Gov. Nathan Deal ordered an investigation last year into the state's abortion clinics or agencies that run them, citing the video.
After reviewing clinics in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Lawrenceville, Marietta and Savannah, the Department of Community Health concluded that all are complying with state law and properly disposing of aborted fetuses and fetal tissues.
Planned Parenthood clinics, while known as abortion providers, also give patients access to contraception, screen for cervical and breast cancer, and test for sexually transmitted infections.
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