Georgia CommonsSR 84: Right to Reproductive Freedom; provide
Last action February 3, 2025 · Senate Read and Referred
A Georgia Senate resolution would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to declare a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, covering decisions from contraception to abortion care, with limits after fetal viability.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the resolution and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
Georgia's Constitution currently does not contain explicit language about reproductive rights. This resolution would put a new section into Article I of the Constitution declaring that every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, covering prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care. The state could only limit that right if it has a compelling interest, defined narrowly as protecting the patient's health, following accepted medical standards, and not overriding the person's own decision making. The measure bars the state from punishing someone for a pregnancy outcome like miscarriage or stillbirth, or for helping a pregnant person get care with that person's consent. It allows the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, but never in a way that blocks an abortion a healthcare professional judges necessary to protect the pregnant person's life or physical or mental health. Because this is a constitutional amendment, it must go to Georgia voters for ratification before taking effect, with a specific ballot question written into the resolution.
What the bill does
- Adds a new Section V to Article I of the Georgia Constitution establishing a fundamental right to reproductive freedom for every individual.
- Defines reproductive freedom to include prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.
- Limits when the state can restrict this right to cases involving a compelling state interest tied to patient health and evidence-based medical standards.
- Prohibits the state from prosecuting or penalizing someone over a pregnancy outcome or for consensually helping another person get reproductive care.
- Allows the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability but bars any ban on abortions medically needed to protect the patient's life or physical or mental health.
- Sends the proposed amendment to Georgia voters for ratification, with the exact ballot question text specified in the resolution.
Who it affects
Georgia residents who can become pregnant, healthcare professionals who provide prenatal, abortion, contraceptive, and infertility care, and anyone who helps a pregnant person access that care. It also affects state and local officials who enforce laws touching pregnancy or abortion, since their authority would be constitutionally limited.
Why it matters
If ratified by voters, this would place reproductive rights directly in Georgia's Constitution, making them harder to change through ordinary legislation. It would restrict how far the state can go in regulating or criminalizing abortion, contraception, and related pregnancy decisions, especially before fetal viability.
Key provisions
- Section 1 adds Article I, Section V, Paragraph I to the Constitution, defining 'fetal viability' based on an attending healthcare professional's judgment about likelihood of survival outside the uterus.
- Paragraph I(b) establishes the fundamental right to reproductive freedom and sets the compelling-state-interest and least-restrictive-means standard for any government limits.
- Paragraph I(c) bars the state from discriminating in how it protects or enforces this right.
- Paragraph I(d) prohibits penalizing or prosecuting individuals over pregnancy outcomes or for assisting others in exercising reproductive freedom with consent.
- Paragraph I(e) permits state regulation of abortion after fetal viability but forbids any prohibition on abortions medically necessary to protect the patient's life or health.
- Paragraph I(f) makes the section self-executing and includes a severability clause so invalidated parts do not void the rest.
- Section 2 sets the exact ballot question voters would see and specifies that ratification would add the amendment to the Constitution.
From the bill
“Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom that entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including, but not limited to, prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.”
“Notwithstanding the provisions of this Section, the state may regulate the provision of abortion care after fetal viability, provided that in no circumstance shall the state prohibit an abortion that, in the professional judgment of an attending healthcare professional, is medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.”
Status timeline
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- Sally Harrell (D, SD-040)
- Harold Jones (D, SD-022)
- Kim Jackson (D, SD-041)
- Elena Parent (D, SD-044)
- Jason Esteves (D, SD-035)
- Nan Orrock (D, SD-036)
- Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)
- Nabilah Islam Parkes (D, SD-007)
- Kenya Wicks (D, SD-034)
- Gail Davenport (D, SD-017)
- Tonya Anderson (D, SD-043)
- Michael Rhett (D, SD-033)
- Nikki Merritt (D, SD-009)
- Ed Harbison (D, SD-015)
- RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-038)
- David Lucas (D, SD-026)
- Josh McLaurin (D, SD-014)
- Derek Mallow (D, SD-002)
Topics
- abortion rights
- reproductive freedom
- constitutional amendment
- Georgia ballot measure
- women's health