Republican state Rep. Amy Grant (Wheaton) thinks the “fetal heartbeat” bill recently signed into law by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is the kind of legislation needed across the U.S.
“It’s going in the right direction and would be good for the whole country,” Grant told the DuPage Policy Journal. “The shame is that we can’t get anything like it through the process here in Illinois.”
The legislation signed by Kemp, also known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, prohibits all abortions where a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The only exceptions would be instances where the mother’s life would be placed in danger by giving birth and in cases of rape or incest before the end of the fifth month of pregnancy where a formal police report has been filed.
Illinois state Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton)
| repgrant.com
Presently, women in Georgia are able to undergo abortion procedures up until the 20th week of pregnancy. The new law is slated to take effect on Jan. 1.
While freshman Republican lawmaker Chris Miller (Oakland) has introduced a somewhat similar bill in Springfield that would likewise ban all abortions where a fetal heartbeat can be detected, Grant said she does not expect anything to come of it.
“Democratic lawmakers here in Illinois are not in support of it and right now they have the numbers,” she said. “The good thing is there’s been a lot of pushback against that. We recently had a big pro-life rally at the Capitol attended by thousands. I think the spirit that pro-life advocates have brought to the issue is the reason why we haven’t seen more of the proposals Democrats are pushing come to the floor. It’s the pro-life advocates doing all the work.”
In Georgia, critics are already lining up in opposition to Kemp's passage of the new law, with the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood both insisting they plan to challenge it as an attempted ban on “safe, legal abortion.”
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