The 2023 session of the Georgia General Assembly is still more than a month away, but lawmakers have already begun filing bills for legislators to consider.
The first prefiled legislation for the 2023 session of the General Assembly takes aim at Georgia’s law that bans abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy.
The AJC reports HB 1 would require the state to pay for many of the costs of having and caring for a child for mothers who would like to have an abortion but are prohibited under Georgia law. Those expenses include medical, legal, and psychological expenses related to the pregnancy and postpartum period.
Democratic state Rep. Dar’Shun Kendrick of Lithonia filed the bill, officially titled The Georgia Pro-Birth Accountability Act.
The bill also requires the state to provide financial and food assistance to the woman as well as her child until the child is 18. If the mother is disabled due to the pregnancy, or if the child is born with a disability, the state would also cover those costs.
The legislation would require the state to pay child support to an unmarried woman if the father cannot or will not pay child support.
