Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Sen. Chuck Payne answers a question during a candidate forum for the May 22 primary Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at Southeast Whitfield County High School in Dalton, Ga. Payne, the incumbent, will be running up against Scott Tidwell for the District 54 State Senate seat in the upcoming primary election.The same week his colleagues introduced bills to ban most abortions, Georgia state Sen. Chuck Payne took a stand in the culture wars by denouncing New York’s recent law.
The New York state Legislature passed the Reproductive Health Act on Jan. 22, allowing doctors to perform abortions after 24 weeks if the fetus is not viable. The bill also allows the operation in the third trimester if a doctor determines a pregnancy endangers a woman’s health, and it removes abortion laws from the state’s criminal code. (Previously, the state allowed abortions after 24 weeks only if a doctor determined the pregnancy could kill the woman.)
In a resolution – an entirely symbolic measure – Payne calls the law “inhumane, overreaching and bad public policy.”
“New York has clearly stepped out of bounds as to what should be allowed in recognition of life,” Payne, R-Dalton, said during a Senate Science and Technology Committee hearing Thursday.
State Sen. Jennifer Jordan, a member of the panel, acted bemused. She questioned why Payne would spend his time on this declaration. No Georgia lawmaker has proposed similar legislation to New York’s. In fact, Jordan pointed out, Republicans are pushing to practically eliminate abortion.