MARIETTA, GA — Cobb County’s acting District Attorney says women will not be prosecuted in Georgia if they get an abortion under the state’s newly passed Heartbeat Bill. Gov. Brian Kemp recently signed one of the nation’s toughest abortion bills that was introduced and sponsored by Cobb County state Rep. Ed Setlzer of Acworth, a bill that would, in many cases, prohibit abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Abortions are allowed, according to acting DA John Melvin, in cases of medical emergency; pregnancy in cases of rape or incest in which a police report has been filed; and when a doctor determines the pregnancy is medically futile. The bill also classifies a six-week-fetus as a human being in terms of census counts.
“The fact the state has redefined personhood to include fetus does not subject women to murder charges,” Melvin, who called the bill “well drafted,” said. “The murder statute forbids causing ‘the death of another human being.’ The legislature could have defined murder as causing “the death of a human being” but it did not. The difference is subtle but important. ‘A’ is an indefinite article and would encompass a fetus under the murder statute if that statute said ’causes the death of a human being because a fetus now has personhood status and is ‘a’ human being. But murder uses the adjective ‘another,’ which means ‘some other, distinct, unique’ which implies concepts of viability.
“Because a fetus cannot survive outside the womb, it would not qualify as ‘another’ human being under our murder statute.”
The bill has been under fire from Hollywood, pro-choice, Democrats and liberal activists across the nation. Over the weekend, two of Hollywood’s biggest names — Ron Howard and Brian Glazer — said they would boycott Georgia if the bill withstands almost-certain legal challenges and becomes law in 2020. Actress Alyssa Milano, one of Hollywood’s most vocal opponents of the law, is calling on women everywhere to stop having sex until the law is rejected. Milano, who is currently filming in Georgia, said she is contractually obligated to continue filming the Netflix series “Insatiable.”
Melvin said the issue of prosecutorial discretion when it comes to the new law is of more concern. “Prosecutorial discretion is important but that exists within the various statutes,” he said. “It does not allow prosecutors to ignore whole cloth the laws that our legislature passes. To do so would violate their oath to enforce the laws as well as their ethical obligations to do the same.”
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