Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the state’s fetal heartbeat abortion ban into law on Tuesday. The signing immediately unleashed a deluge of fierce reactions nationwide. 

Thenewly enacted pro-life law, set to go into effect in 2020,will ban abortions after the heartbeat of the unborn child is detectable,making Georgia the fourth state this year to pass such a ban. This ban evengoes a step further and declares the unborn child a “natural person” understate law.

Gov.Kemp is ready for the inevitable court battle over this new law. During thesigning ceremony he stated:

Our job is to do what is right, not what is easy… We are called to be strong and courageous, and we will not back down.

While intense reactions to pro-life legislation are not uncommon, the response to Georgia’s law has been particularly interesting. The state is a popular filming location for movies and television, which has prompted several production companies to boycott the state.

A few of the companies that are boycotting have never actually filmed in Georgia. The most notable company to announce a boycott is Color Force, which used metro Atlanta as the primary shooting location for three of the four “Hunger Games” films they produced.

TheMotion Picture Association of America is waiting to see what happens beforedeciding whether or not to participate in the boycott. This group representswell-known names like Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios andWarner Brothers.

Another response by some has been to condemn Georgia for “imprisoning women who have abortions.” Publications around the country have run pieces pointing fingers at Georgia for this. However, David French at the National Review responded to these accusations, writing:

[T]his is fundamentally wrong. The heartbeat bill did not repeal a number of Georgia criminal statutes that explicitly apply to abortions and unborn children, and it does not overrule controlling legal authority holding that these statutes bar prosecution of a woman for terminating her own pregnancy.

There will likely be more outrage responses to this defense of the unborn in the coming weeks. Even while the pro-abortion onslaught continues, pro-lifers should take a moment to celebrate Georgia’s defense of the unborn. Kudos to the Georgia state legislature and Governor Kemp for recognizing the humanity of unborn children.

Photo credit: Connor.carey via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0