The legislation will now move to the Georgia Senate.
The bill says “Modern medical science … demonstrates that early infants in the womb are a class of living, distinct human beings that, among other individual human traits, have their own distinct blood types, organ systems, and unique fingerprints,” among other traits.
“Unborn children shall be worthy of recognition as natural persons under the laws of this State,” the legislation reads. Under the U.S. Constitution and Georgia law, no person “shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property except by due process of law” and “no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws,” the House bill stated.
Current Georgia law allows abortions up to 20 weeks; if passed, the so-called heartbeat bill would ban abortions when a fetal heartbeat was detected, which typically happens in a the sixth week of pregnancy.
Exceptions are included if not getting an abortion would pose substantial and irreversible physical harm to the prospective mother or in the case of rape or incest.
The bill passed late Thursday with a vote of 93-73.
Gov. Brian Kemp praised the passage in a press conference after it passed.
“This is a huge step but we have more work to do in the Senate and I look forward to working with them to get where I can sign this legislation,” he said.
“I campaigned on signing the toughest abortion bill in the country, and this is the toughest one we’ve got in the Legislature now,” he said.
Rep. Ed Setzler, a Republican, was among those speaking in support of the bill on the House floor.
“It shouldn’t be a partisan issue that a child in the womb should be worthy of full legal protection,” he said.
As he spoke, some Democratic lawmakers turned their backs on him. Some later walked out before the vote was conducted.
“There’s an overwhelming majority, so they are not listening to people. It’s not just us,” said state Rep. Bee Nguyen, a Democrat.
