A Georgia state lawmaker's decision to share of her own personal struggles with pregnancy to rebuke the "heartbeat" abortion bill went viral on Saturday.
Last week, state Sen. Jen Jordan (D) delivered a powerful speech in the chamber against the state's "heartbeat" abortion bill, a legislation that, if signed, would ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected which the state House eventually voted to pass on Friday. The bill was then sent to Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to be signed. Kemp has stated he plans to approve the legislation.
To denounce this severe restriction on abortion procedures, Jordan drew on her own personal experiences to explain the importance of a woman's right to privacy.
"My husband and I were talking about this bill the other night and he told me that he didn't want me to share anything personal because no one was entitled to that information. And I have always fiercely guarded my privacy," Jordan said. "But the deepest, darkest times of my life have occurred in the presence of and with my physician."
The Democratic lawmaker revealed that despite being pregnant 10 times, she had only given birth twice. "I have lost seven pregnancies in varying points of time before 20 weeks. And one after five months. Her name was Juliette," she said. "I have been escorted out the back door of my physician's office so as not to upset the other pregnant women in the waiting area, my grief on full display and uncontainable."
Jordan then emphasized the importance of the "basic principle that woman must be able to make her decisions, in consultation with her God and her family."
"It is not for the government or the men of this chamber to insert itself in the most personal, private, and wrenching decisions that women make every single day," she continued. "Matters such as a woman's ability to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy involve the most intimate and personal decisions a person can make."
Jordan added: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."
On Saturday, a day after the the Georgia House approved the bill, Jordan's speech went viral on social media, gathering millions of views and shared by a range of users. The measure, if enacted, could limit the period for abortions to as early as six weeks, a time frame in which many women will likely not even be aware they are pregnant. Under current law woman can seek abortions up until 20 weeks into a pregnancy.
Speaking to Newsweek about the "intent" of the fetal heartbeat bill, Jordan said: It's a race to the U.S. Supreme Court, with all of these conservative states to be the one that gets Roe overturned… I think they're trying to be as outrageous as they possibly can, and they've definitely done it here."
Although rape and incest are the exceptions under the bill, the woman is required to first file a police report, reported Associated Press.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
