Bill > HB441

This bill, known as the Georgia Prenatal Equal Protection Act, significantly expands legal protections for unborn children by defining a human being as including an unborn child from the moment of fertilization. The bill modifies several existing legal codes to remove previous exceptions that allowed for certain actions related to unborn children, such as assault or battery. It introduces new provisions that would treat an unborn child as a legal person at all stages of development, with criminal and civil protections similar to those afforded to born persons. The bill provides a narrow coercion defense for murder charges involving mothers of unborn children and establishes concurrent prosecution authority for the Attorney General and local prosecutors in cases involving unborn children. Importantly, the bill includes exceptions for medical procedures intended to save a mother's life and spontaneous miscarriages. The legislation also changes the legal standard for civil recovery in cases of homicide of an unborn child, moving from the previous "detectable heartbeat" standard to defining the right to recovery as beginning at fertilization. The bill is prospective, meaning it will only apply to actions committed after its effective date, and it explicitly aims to align with constitutional protections of life and equal protection under both Georgia and U.S. constitutions.

Justice

https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70313