Georgia's Attorney General Race Could Decide If Pregnant People End up in Prison
This summer, Georgia became the first state in the nation to formally recognize embryos as “persons” six weeks into a pregnancy. That means anyone who self-induces an abortion, as well some people who may miscarry or experience stillbirth, can be charged with homicide.
The ACLU, of course, challenged the law, and hearings are currently underway in the Fulton County Superior Court. That’s why Georgia’s attorney general race between Democrat Jen Jordan, currently a state senator, and incumbent Republican Chris Carr, who’s fought to overturn Roe for years, is so critical: It could be the difference between pregnant people and doctors ending up in prison, or not.
Jordan, who’s been open about having lost eight pregnancies herself, told Jezebel that if elected, she would do everything she can to stop the fetal personhood law from hurting actual, born people. “If I were attorney general right now, I would be challenging the bill itself as unconstitutional under the state Constitution,” Jordan said. While a state attorney general doesn’t have the power to enforce or not enforce laws, the office can issue critical guidance to local district attorneys and law enforcement agencies instructing them not to criminalize pregnancy outcomes. Jordan says she would use the office to clarify the “messy” aspects of Georgia’s law in a manner that “protects women and doctors.”
It’s important, Jordan told Jezebel, to recognize just how extreme this law is and what will happen when its fetal personhood component is enforced: “If a mandatory reporter, like a doctor, is told by his pregnant patient she’s been drinking wine, is he supposed to call the police, report that to the state as child abuse? When you extend all these rights to an embryo, there’s really significant consequences.”
Link to tweet
https://www.yahoo.com/news/georgia-attorney-general-race-could-185000585.html