ATLANTA — Health care providers and patients in Georgia testified Monday in front of U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s Human Rights Subcommittee, discussing the challenges they have faced since the state's heartbeat law went into effect in 2023.
Doctors shared their experiences with the uncertainty surrounding patient care under the law, which bans most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected—typically around six weeks into pregnancy. Several patients also spoke about the difficult decisions they faced when complications arose during their pregnancies.
One of those patients, Mackenzie Kulik, provided emotional testimony about her own pregnancy complications during her second trimester. She explained that her situation did not qualify for a medical exemption under the heartbeat law.
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"If I had not been able to travel out of state, I would have been forced to carry a non-viable pregnancy until the baby died in utero. Or I would have developed an infection that threatened my health enough to qualify for an intervention. Or I would have had to deliver a baby only to watch her suffer. Her underdeveloped lungs would never have the chance to take a breath of air on their own,” Kulik testified.
Another woman, Yasmein Ziyad from Morrow, testified that she sought an abortion when she learned she was miscarrying. She testified she was denied an abortion because her doctor feared losing his license or being prosecuted if he performed the procedure.
“At my follow-up appointment, which would have me at eight weeks, the doctor confirmed the miscarriage. I asked again about the D&C, and he spoke around the topic, then stated ‘These laws. I don’t want to lose my license or be arrested,’” Ziyad testified.
Georgia’s heartbeat law, one of the most restrictive in the nation, has been the subject of heated debate.
A few months ago, 11Alive’s Zach Merchant spoke with Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, who reaffirmed his support for the law.
“I support the right to life and I believe we struck a balance here. The heartbeat bill is not satisfactory for those who believe life begins at conception… I understand that, but we also have people who believe abortion can happen at any time during a pregnancy, even up until the point of birth, and I very vehemently disagree with that," Burns said when explaining his stance.
Monday's hearing is the second that Ossoff has held in Georgia, gathering testimony from both experts and residents on the impacts of the state’s abortion restrictions. The first hearing took place in July.