Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said this week that she would prosecute providers of unsafe abortions under Georgia’s new restrictions but would not prioritize cases against abortion patients.
“If the state is able to force a situation where people can’t get that procedure, I’m concerned about what’s going to pop up in its place, in that vacuum,” Austin-Gatson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m very concerned about whether people are going to do things they’re not supposed to be doing, unscrupulous people trying to take advantage of women.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and its constitutional protections for abortion, Austin-Gatson and more than 80 district attorneys nationwide pledged not to use their offices’ resources to “criminalize reproductive health decisions.”
Austin-Gatson later said she would prosecute abortion on a “case-by-case basis.” She clarified this week that she would seek to investigate botched abortions to determine if unqualified, predatory abortion providers were to blame – though it would be difficult to say in advance what such cases would look like.
(READ MORE: A month after abortion ruling, closed clinics and uncertainty in Tennessee)