{"id":273459,"date":"2022-08-02T14:57:06","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T19:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=273459"},"modified":"2022-08-04T21:28:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T02:28:04","slug":"georgia-recognizes-preborn-heartbeats-dependents-state-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/georgia-recognizes-preborn-heartbeats-dependents-state-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia recognizes preborn children with heartbeats as dependents on state tax returns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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According to the Georgia Department of Revenue<\/a>, Georgia residents can now claim their preborn children with “detectable human heartbeat[s]” as dependents on taxes. The state will also recognize preborn humans as legal residents, counting them on census surveys and allowing women to file for child support once the child’s heartbeat is detected. The heartbeat begins\u00a0during the embryonic stage of human development around 22 days, with the heartbeat detectable on ultrasound by six weeks gestation (four weeks after fertilization).<\/p>\n

In a press release on Monday, the department announced that following the Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization<\/em> and the 11th Circuit Court’s July 20 ruling in Sistersong v. Kemp<\/em>, any preborn child with a detectable heartbeat will be eligible for the Georgia individual income tax dependent exemption. Parents in Georgia may include on their 2022 state taxes any preborn child or children with a detectable heartbeat any time on or after July 20 through December 31, 2022. Taxpayers can claim a $3,000 exemption for each preborn child.\u00a0Medical records or other documentation will need to be provided in order to claim a preborn child on a tax return.<\/p>\n

Because the\u00a0Dobbs<\/em> ruling overturned Roe v. Wade<\/em>, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled<\/a> in\u00a0Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective v. Brian Kemp<\/em><\/a>\u00a0that abortions in Georgia can be banned once a fetal heartbeat is detected by an ultrasound. The law, HB 481<\/a>, includes exceptions for rape and incest as well as when a preborn child receives a serious medical diagnosis or a mother’s life is considered to be at risk, though deliberately killing a preborn human being via abortion is never truly medically necessary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sistersong<\/em> decision also redefined<\/a> “natural person” in Georgia to include an embryo or fetus at any stage of development “in the womb.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Pro-life organization works to help Georgia and Virginia women and families in need<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n