Pro-Life and Pro-Choice protests on Peachtree Street, Atlanta, 1993

Both chambers of the Georgia legislature have passed the "Heartbeat Bill," potentially the most restrictive anti-abortion bill in the country that would effectively ban all abortions on the state after the sixth week of pregnancy. For comparison, other state "Heartbeat Bills" have restrictions that don't kick in until the 20th week. According to reporting on NPR, the Georgia bill would also require proof from a woman who miscarries after the sixth week that she didn't do anything to cause her miscarriage. As women out there know, many pregnancies aren't even discovered until well after the sixth week. 

To become law, the bill would have to be signed by Governor Brian Kemp, who's indicated that he will sign it. Kemp, as you recall, is the former Republican Secretary of State who narrowly defeated Stacy Abrams only by overseeing the very election he was running in, and has been accused of illegally purging thousands of eligible voters from the election based on a self-imposed "zero-tolerance" policy on administrative records (if names, addresses, middle initials, etc. weren't all exactly the same throughout all state databases, the citizen was declared ineligible to vote). 

So, we were wrong in our assertion following the election that the new Governor wouldn't do anything stupid once in office. We had assumed that the real power in the state, the monied business class, wouldn't allow him to do anything to embarrass Georgia. The state's revenues are reliant on a huge film and entertainment industry, on conventions and tourism, and on major sports events like this year's Superbowl. While the Governor, we reasoned, may want to pass anti-gay legislation or appear tough on immigrants, those actions may results in boycotts and cancelled events (look what happened in North Carolina), and the business class won't tolerate that. We thought that the Chamber of Commerce and the back-room dealmakers would have talked to Kemp by now and told him, "Nice little election you rigged yourself there. Be a shame if you made us look bad and we had to take it away." 

But apparently that didn't happen, or Kemp is just too fucking stupid to get it. Alyssa Milano, who's in Georgia now shooting a television series, and a bunch of A-list actors have already signed a petition calling on the movie industry to boycott the state, and while there's nothing Georgians hate more than a bunch of Hollywood liberals telling them how to live their lives, as it turns out their livelihood is often dependent on the jobs the State's studios and filming locales bring in, not to mention the carpenter jobs, electrician jobs, security, catering, and hospitality industries centered around movie production. If even a couple major conventions pull out of the state, it could have major repercussions on the State's economy. 

The good news is that by signing the bill, Kemp may insure that he'll be a one-term Governor, but the bad news is that, boneheaded conservative Republitard that he is, he's going to sign it, endangering the health and legal status of countless Georgia women and severely damaging the Georgia economy. 

But at least we won't be doing what those damned Hollywood elites are telling us we're supposed to do.