ATLANTA — With less than three weeks until Georgia’s 2023 legislative session, only two bills have been prefiled by lawmakers as of Dec. 19.

Prefiling opened Nov. 15 for the the session which starts Jan. 9.

Dar’shun Kendrick, a Lithonia Democrat, prefiled a bill that would provide aid — mostly financial and medical — to a pregnant woman who would have otherwise received an abortion but can’t due to Georgia’s newly implemented and contested law banning abortions once a fetal “heartbeat” is detected. The “heartbeat” bill essentially bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they’re pregnant.  

Kendrick’s proposal, called the “Georgia Pro-Birth Accountability Act,” calls for women to be entitled to compensation from the state to include “reasonable” living, legal, medical, psychological, psychiatric expenses and child-related tax credits and deductions. The proposal would entitle the pregnant women to be paired with a nurse who provides home visits during and for two years after pregnancy.  

The state would also bear financial responsibility for any funeral expenses if the woman or fetus dies; medical costs and income losses should the woman or child become or is disabled; health insurance to the child until age 18; and child support if the father is unknown, unable to provide support, or if the child is born from rape.

“To obtain compensation from the state, a woman shall file an affidavit with Department of Human Services indicating that, but for a law prohibiting an abortion upon a detectable heartbeat of an embryo or fetus, she would have chosen to terminate the pregnancy and not give birth to the child,” the proposal states.  

Another prefiled bill, would add more days to runoff voting.  

Jasmine Lilburn, a Lilburn Democrat, wants to mandate early voting on the second and third Saturday prior to a primary, election or runoff.

According to the proposal, a county registrar or absentee ballot clerk can allow advance voting to be conducted on the second Sunday, the third Sunday or both prior to a primary, election, or runoff during hours determined by the registrar or absentee ballot clerk. The proposal also extends the runoff period from 28 days (four weeks) after a general, primary or special election, to the Tuesday of the sixth week following such election, adding two more weeks between a regular election and its runoff date.

But Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Dec. 14 called on Georgia lawmakers to end runoff voting in general elections as Georgia is one of two states that has runoffs for general elections. His push comes after highly a contentious Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race. 

In Georgia the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff in Georgia when no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes. The vast majority of states allow a candidate to win an election if he or she receives the most votes overall.