Georgia House Committee Hears Abolition Bill
Watch the complete hearing for Georgia HB 441 in the Judiciary Non-Civil committee.
On Wednesday, March 26, the Georgia Prenatal Equal Protection Act, HB 441, received a historic hearing in the Judiciary Non-Civil Committee in the Georgia House of Representatives.
The two-hour hearing began with HB 441’s author, Representative Emory Dunahoo (R), introducing the bill before the committee and then fielding questions from committee members along with Foundation to Abolish Abortion President, Bradley Pierce.
Democrat Committee Members Fiercely Oppose HB 411
HB 441 was vigorously opposed by the Democrats on the committee. Rep. Dar’shun Kendrick (D) propagated the false narrative that HB 441 would prevent mothers from receiving life saving care due to complications in pregnancy. Rep. Shea Roberts (D) railed against the bill for protecting babies conceived in rape and incest.
Rep. Dunahoo challenged this line of questioning by asking, “Why should the child be murdered for the sins of another person?”
After Jeff Durbin, pastor of Apologia church and founder of End Abortion Now, testified in favor of HB 441, he was questioned by Rep. Esther Panitch (D) who argued that HB 441 infringed upon her “religious liberty.” She claimed that Judaism teaches that a woman should have a right to an abortion under almost any circumstance. Durbin, responded that under a law of equal protection, “nobody can say to another human being, I am going to take your life with malice aforethought in an unjustified manner.”
After taking offense to his comparison of the dehumanization of preborn children with the dehumanization that was perpetrated through the institution of chattel slavery, Rep. Kendrick also questioned Durbin, asking if identifies as being black. When he responded in the negative, Kendrick went on to tell him he should stop talking about “African-American stuff.”
The behavior of some Democrat committee members during the hearing displayed a palpable disrespect toward God and toward the witnesses who came to testify. During testimony from Virgil Walker of G3 Ministries, Representative Dar’shun Kendrick mocked God with handwritten signs stating "Your God is Not everyone's God" and "America and Georgia are NOT A THEOCRACY!"
Christians Testify in Favor of HB 441
Christians from across Georgia came to the hearing to testify before the committee. Pastor Virgil Walker of G3 Ministries, and Ricardo Davis and Zemmie Fleck of Georgia Right to Life testified in favor of the bill.
Wes Fuller, pastor of County Line Church, told committee members, “If you oppose this righteous legislation that we are presenting here today, HB 441, then the blood of the innocent slain in the coming year will cry out from heaven against you and you will stand guilty before God!”
IVF Industry Unites Against HB 441
Following opposition testimony from the ACLU and several other far-left organizations, three IVF doctors testified against the bill, claiming that if passed, HB 441 would make IVF impossible in Georgia. Karenne Fru, an IVF doctor, denied scientific reality claiming that “this whole concept that we all know that life begins at fertilization is wrong!” State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R) pushed back against these claims, asking one of the doctors, “Do clinics commit homicide?”
Pro-Life Opposition
While most of the opposition to HB 441 came from pro-abortion activists, Pro-Life lobbyist, Elizabeth Edmunds, also testified against the bill. Edmunds claimed that three Pro-Life pregnancy care centers in Georgia had threatened to close if HB 441 became law.
Following her testimony, Democrat committee members took the opportunity to highlight the bill’s lack of exceptions to allow the killing of rape-conceived children. Edmunds offered no pushback on this idea, responding “this is just really bad legislation” and that HB 441 is “not how Jesus would love us” and not a “representation of the Pro-Life movement.”
Georgia Life Alliance, which claims to be the largest pro-life group in Georgia,[1] submitted a letter to the committee in opposition to HB 441, stating, “Regardless of one’s beliefs on access to abortion, women and girls should not be further traumatized from their abortion by the fear of criminal prosecution.”[2]
The Hearing Concludes
After two hours of testimony, the hearing concluded without a vote.
Even without a vote, this hearing demonstrates remarkable progress on the road to abolition in Georgia. In 2023, Rep. Dunahoo filed the Georgia Prenatal Equal Protection Act for the first time. The bill received just six co-sponsors and died in committee without a hearing. This year, Rep. Dunahoo filed the equal protection bill again as HB 441 and it garnered 21 co-sponsors and received a well-attended committee hearing.
Equal protection is undeniably gaining ground.
NOTES:
https://www.georgialifealliance.com/about
https://georgiarecorder.com/2025/03/26/bill-that-criminalizes-abortion-undermines-ivf-access-gets-georgia-house-panel-hearing/