Abortion pill restriction fails as Georgia awaits Roe v. Wade decision

ATLANTA— While Georgia legislators failed to advance more attempts to restrict abortion access this legislative session, the state appears to be one of more than 20 states likely to limit or outright ban abortion completely if Roe v. Wade is overturned.  

The U.S. Supreme Court decision — expected by June — will weigh a Mississippi abortion clinic case, asking the Court to overturn the state’s 15-week abortion ban. The state countered the suit asking the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 Supreme Court decision protecting a woman's decision to have an abortion.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Georgia's pending ban on abortions past six weeks of pregnancy — except in the case of rape or incest — will likely become effective. Signed in 2019, that law is currently pending while being challenged in federal court on grounds of unconstitutionality. 

"That law would still allow a woman to make a decision with their health care provider when you're looking at the life of the mother, the health of the mother that's an issue," said Republican Sen. Brian Strickland, who voted for the law in 2019. "That was the point where we, from a policy standpoint, kind of drew the line...in looking at when there is a heartbeat detected (around six weeks of pregnancy). At that point, unless you have an issue with the health or life of the mother."

For now, abortions are still allowed up to 20 weeks in the state. Several states have already began attempting to limit and outright ban abortion amid the Roe. v. Wade challenge.  

Strickland, a 10-year legislator and an attorney, said he does not foresee Georgia completely banning abortion, stating that discussions among state legislators in 2019 largely favored the fetal heartbeat as a determination of a fetus' right to life.

"I'd be surprised if you saw that change. That seemed to be the place there was a consensus at the time but you know, depends on what happens with the federal decision," Strickland said. "We could have done something (in 2019) that was even more conservative in a sense, or we could have gone and been less restrictive, but that's where we were at that time in 2019, where we drew the line and where we came together on that bill."

While he feels the "heartbeat bill" was a reasonable approach for abortion access in Georgia, he said there could be a push from his colleagues for an outright ban, depending on the eventual Supreme Court decision.  

"If we are allowed to go a different direction under the decision, whether that be something that's more strict or less strict than, you might see an effort to change that. But that seems to me, just from my perspective, to kind of be where we have drawn the line in Georgia though," he said.

During the state's 2022 legislative session this year Republicans attempted to push through Senate Bill 456, a proposal to ban the mailing of abortion pills by doctors via telemedicine — a process that was made possible by the FDA when it modified rules that previously required patients to get the pills in-person, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Republican dominated Senate voted in favor of the bill March 1, but the bill did not make it to the House floor before the end of the session April 4.  

Supporters for that bill said in-person doctor visits for abortion should be required for health and safety reasons, allowing the doctor to verify the pregnancy, diagnose ectopic pregnancies and provide surgical intervention in the case of an incomplete abortion or severe bleeding, among other concerns. 

Those against the bill argued that mailing the abortion pill poses no risk to patients and that the bill is an overreach into the medical field. The bill, opponents argued, would have restricted access to health care for women, especially low-income women who may face obstacles getting to a clinic. 

Guttmacher Institute data shows that in 2020, medication abortion accounted for 54% of U.S. abortions. The FDA estimates that approximately 3.7 million women have used mifepristone in the U.S. for the medical termination of pregnancy through the end of December 2018.

From September 2002 through December 2018, the FDA reports at least 24 chemical abortion (mifepristone) related deaths and nearly 100 reported uses have led to ectopic pregnancy. More than 1,000 of the 3.7 million have led to hospitalization.

A proposed Democrat-led resolution in Georgia this year seeks to uphold Roe v. Wade and reproductive freedom. The bill states that that abortion has helped to reduce the maternal mortality rate in the state.  

“Georgia ranks among the worst states in maternal mortality rates, and a 2021 Georgia State University study found that, historically, access to legal abortion decreased Black maternal mortality by 30-40%,” stated HR 669.

Georgia has more than a dozen facilities that provide abortions, many of them in the Atlanta area or other metro areas. In 2017, 36,330 abortions were provided in Georgia, though not all abortions that occurred in Georgia were provided to state residents, according to Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research organization.