ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta is considering taking a stronger stance on abortion rights. It comes as the Supreme Court is set to rule on the longstanding Roe v. Wade decision later this month.
Through a resolution, Atlanta City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari of District 5 wants police to decriminalize any alleged abortion crimes and consider them as "low priority." Her resolution also calls for a lack of funding to form task forces related to enforcing and prosecuting abortion-related matters.
Bakhtiari said if Roe is overturned and Georgia's anti-abortion law, otherwise known as the Heartbeat Law, goes into effect, her resolution would mean the City of Atlanta backs abortion rights.
“If this does come to pass, we will be able to signal that we’re prepared to do the right thing, which is ensure that city dollars don’t go toward criticizing people for seeking help – but instead going to much more needed things like affordable housing, repairing infrastructure, combatting homelessness, poverty and crime.," Bakhtiari said. “[The Heartbeat Law] is not a pro-life bill. This is a pro-forced birth bill. I consider myself both pro-choice and pro-life, because I believe in cradle to grave legislation. This is not what that is.”
Critics of the the resolution argue there is no constitutional right to abortion in the United States and say resolution simply isn't practical.
"They’re attempting to usurp the legislative process, which is how this is to be handled from a state perspective," Mike Griffin, public affairs representative of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said. "It’s not something I see that’s going to be very doable. Life is very valuable, and treasuring life in the womb increases the value and importance of life on the outside of the womb. They should all be the same.”
Governor Brian Kemp signed Georgia's abortion law in 2019, but the measure is currently not in effect after it was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court. The U.S. Appeals Court in Atlanta heard the case last year but decided to put it on hold until the Supreme Court decides on the current challenge to the constitutional abortion rights precedent. A draft opinion leaked in May suggests the ruling will overturn Roe.
If that happens, it would create a new precedent that would all but certainly lead the 11th Circuit Appeals Court to rule that Georgia's law can now go into effect.
The law generally bans abortions at about six weeks, when a fetal "heartbeat" can be detected.
It criminalizes the act of both receiving and providing an abortion after that point, and experts have said that it has vague stipulations that could leave doctors open to criminal liability if they perform even legal abortions, such as in the case of a pregnancy by rape or incest.
11Alive legal analyst Page Pate said the legal impact of the Atlanta resolution would be limited if passed, but he said the resolution would send a strong message. Austin, Texas previously passed a similar resolution.
"It’s not really enforceable, it doesn’t have the effect of a law," Pate said. "So it’s a bit different than if they tried to legislate that Atlanta Police not spend money or not prosecute abortion crimes. The reality is, Atlanta cannot change the state law. They can’t make abortion legal or protected just within their city, because state law preempts a local ordinance.”
Pate also said he would not be surprised if Georgia's right to privacy law was challenged if the Roe is overturned and if the Heartbeat Law were to go into effect.
Bakhtiari's resolution was read at a City Council meeting this week. It will next head to a committee, and if it passes, it will go to the full Council for consideration and a vote. The district 5 councilmember felt as though she had enough support for the resolution to pass it. She told 11Alive the earliest the resolution could go into effect is June 20. The Supreme Court is expected to make its ruling in the next couple of weeks before justices go on recess June 26.
11Alive reached out to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens' and Governor Kemp's Office for comment on the resolution but didn't hear back.