Savannah City Council adopts resolution supporting women’s reproductive rights

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Women living in Georgia will now have to travel out of state to get an abortion legally after a heartbeat is detected or six weeks of pregnancy, in most cases.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and the rest of city council unanimously passed a resolution last Thursday supporting women’s rights to end a pregnancy.

While Savannah’s only abortion clinic closed shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned, the resolution says the right to privacy should protect doctors, patients and all other involved with medical treatment from any criminal investigation including an abortion.

“I don’t think that a doctor should be penalized for providing comprehensive care. On the other end of it, we’re not going to use our city resources towards this for that anyway. We’re not going to prosecute doctors. We’re just not going to do that. We want women to be OK. We want them to be healthy,” Mayor Johnson said.

The Heartbeat Law, or HB 481, mentions criminal and civil penalties for breaking the law.

“That’s state law, we’ll let the state deal with that. We have other issues here that we have to address,” the mayor said.

The law also states victims pregnant by rape or incest can terminate a pregnancy up to 20 weeks, as long as a police report is filed.

WTOC did reach out to Chatham County Police and Savannah Police to see if any protocols would be added in investigating these reports.

With the law taking effect just days ago, both agencies say they are waiting for more guidance and are working on ways to handle these cases.

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