While Daniel said that Roe allowed courts to essentially create laws and policy, she said that “an entire mess of jurisprudence flowing from that was finally undone in the Dobbs decision.”
“For 50 years under Roe, we the people did not get a say in what policy was going to govern us,” she said.
Now, Daniel said, “the people of Georgia have spoken.”
“They supported the lawmakers who passed this law,” she explained. “This is the policy that Georgians prefer. So that should be the policy that governs.”
Besides banning abortion at six weeks, the LIFE Act also establishes that unborn babies are human persons in the eyes of the law, allows mothers to receive child support from the beginning of pregnancy, and allows parents to claim unborn babies as dependents on state income taxes.
The law says that “modern medical science, not available decades ago, demonstrates that unborn children are a class of living, distinct persons” and that it “shall be the policy of the state of Georgia to recognize unborn children as natural persons.”
By “natural person,” the LIFE Act explains that it means “any human being including an unborn child.”
The ruling is yet another pro-life victory in what Daniel said has been a “tremendous first year under Dobbs.”
While only one state had a heartbeat law before Dobbs, 25 states have now enacted policies to protect unborn babies from the point when they can feel pain or earlier, according to Daniel.
In August, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a similar heartbeat law protecting unborn babies at six weeks. In Florida, another heartbeat law is being considered by the state Supreme Court in a case that could end up reversing the Florida Constitution’s right to abortion established under Roe.
“There’s been an enormous amount of momentum in the last year, and we’re very optimistic,” Daniel said. “We know there will be hard fights, but there are also great opportunities.”
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Peter Pinedo is a DC Correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.