House Judiciary Committee hears hours of testimony on bill defining life at fertilization

The Georgia House Judiciary Committee heard more than two hours of testimony and questioning on House Bill 441, the "Georgia Prenatal Equal Protection Act," a proposal that would extend homicide and wrongful-death protections to the moment of fertilization.

Representative Donahue, the bill’s sponsor, said the measure would "ensure that those same laws protecting the lives of people after birth equally protect the lives of people before birth," and described the proposal as moving the law’s protection point from later pregnancy markers back to fertilization. He told the committee the bill includes legislative findings, protections for a mother forced into an abortion, and preserves existing due-process protections under Georgia criminal law. Donahue also said the bill would give the attorney general concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute if local prosecutors decline to enforce the law.

Supporters framed the bill as a straightforward extension of existing homicide protections to unborn children. Witnesses representing pro-life organizations and faith groups repeatedly referred to fertilization as the start of human life. Pastor Jeff Durbin said, "what's in the womb is…