MORE LEGISLATURE NEWS » Senators mark Roe v. Wade with opposing speeches,

Smyre returns to House

On the 45th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade, two Georgia senators took to the floor Monday to trade barbs while expressing the opposing arguments of the court’s decision in 1973 that legalized abortions.

“Today we have a settled law in America,” said state Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. “Still, our right as women to safe, legal abortions, and any other private and personal health decision, continues to be attacked.”

Orrock pointed to bills filed annually in the Legislature to limit the ability for women to get abortions.

“History shows us abortions don’t necessarily cease to exist because of the law,” she said. “It’s my hope we’ll keep the government from barging in to tell women what to do with their own bodies.”

State Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, took the floor later Monday morning, saying

he was compelled to do so based on things Orrock said.

McKoon, who is running for secretary of state, said just because the court’s ruling becomes the law of the

land, it does not mean it is right or moral.

“For a long time we had a decision we dealt with called the Dred Scott decision that denied the humanity of another class of human beings,” McKoon said, referring to an 1857 opinion that later was overruled where justices decided African-Americans were not U.S. citizens.

More than 200 anti-abortion advocates gathered last week at Liberty Plaza to oppose the Supreme Court ruling with a vigil and march.

“That vigil that we stand, alongside millions of people around this country, on behalf of those who never had the opportunity to speak for themselves will continue until the day that we end this immoral practice in America,” McKoon said.

McKoon and Orrock both have bills filed in the General Assembly this session that address abortion.

McKoon’s bill, Senate Bill 230, would require anyone performing an abortion have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Orrock’s bill, Senate Bill 238, would make state laws unenforceable if they limit a woman’s access to an abortion.

BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, receives a standing ovation after speaking to the chamber during Morning Orders. He was warmly welcomed back to the House chamber Monday. Smyre missed the opening days of the session for medical reasons and returned for...