Georgia provides 'unborn foetus' rights of a person, just weeks after taking away basic rights of women

Even as the state of women's rights in the United States faces a steady decline, unborn foetus rights are seeing an elevation. Now, the state of Georgia is giving unborn children the right to be considered a person. According to a news release released on Monday, individuals can now claim "any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat" as a dependent on their state income taxes for the upcoming tax year. People can claim up to $3,000 for a heartbeat as early as 6 weeks into the pregnancy, which is also the time period at which the state's controversial "heartbeat bill" bans abortion.

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This is the first step toward asserting complete foetal personhood in Georgia, according to the news publication Jezebel.

"Now, an embryo or fetus at any stage of development is legally considered a person. The tax exemption for those clusters of cells? $3,000 each," wrote Jezebel.

In July, the "heartbeat" law went into effect over night. The law, which was previously blocked from going into effect, outlaws the majority of abortions once a "detectable human heartbeat" is present.

Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will eventually become the heart as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, long before many pregnancies are detected.

As per the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) "It is clinically inaccurate to use the word “heartbeat” to describe the sound that can be heard on ultrasound in very early pregnancy. In fact, there are no chambers of the heart developed at the early stage in pregnancy that this word is used to describe, so there is no recognizable “heartbeat.” What pregnant people may hear is the ultrasound machine translating electronic impulses that signify fetal cardiac activity into the sound that we recognize as a heartbeat."

The press release by Georgia Department of Revenue said "In light of the June 24, 2022, U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the July 20, 2022, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Sistersong v. Kemp, the Department will recognize any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat, as defined in O.C.G.A. § 1-2-1, as eligible for the Georgia individual income tax dependent exemption."

"As such, on individual income tax returns filed for Tax Year 2022 where, at any time on or after July 20, 2022, and through December 31, 2022, a taxpayer has an unborn child (or children) with a detectable human heartbeat (which may occur as early as six weeks’ gestation), the taxpayer may claim a dependent personal exemption as provided for under O.C.G.A § 48-7-26(a) and (b)(3) in the amount of $3,000.00 for each unborn child."

(With inputs from agencies)

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