ATLANTA — An influential group that represents thousands of medical doctors at the state Capitol has come out against a measure that would ban most abortions after a heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

The president of the Medical Association of Georgia, Dr. Rutledge Forney, penned a letter this week that objects to parts of the bill that criminally punish physicians who violate the proposed rewrite of Georgia’s abortion law and allow women who have had an abortion to sue their provider for damages.

Forney also questioned whether the proposal — known as the “heartbeat bill” — could undermine the state’s efforts to recruit and retain obstetricians and gynecologists and further limit access to health care in rural Georgia. About half the counties in Georgia do not have an obstetrician or gynecologist.

Forney sent the letter to Sen. Renee Unterman, a Republican from Buford who chairs the Senate committee that handled the bill. Unterman’s committee narrowly approved the bill Monday, and the proposal could get a vote in the Senate as early as Friday. 

Unterman has not commented on the letter.

“It’s a challenge to recruit and retain physicians in rural areas of Georgia and if you add one more concern — particularly being a criminal for doing something you have been trained to do — that is going to be one more disincentive to come to Georgia,” Forney, who is a practicing dermatologist, said in an interview.

The proposal would ban most abortions after a heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks. Today, Georgia law allows abortions until 20 weeks.

Some exceptions would be allowed: medical emergencies that threaten the mother’s life or when a fetus is deemed “medically futile,” which means it likely would not survive after birth. A later abortion would also be allowed in cases of rape or incest, but only if a police report has been filed.

“It’s not a position about abortion,” Forney said of the association’s stance. “It’s all about criminalizing medical procedures. Our policy is a physician can refuse to perform an abortion but if it’s legal, the physician can do an abortion. We don’t want to tell physicians what to do. We just don’t want to criminalize actions.”

The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Ed Setzler, a Republican from Acworth, would also include “unborn” children in the state population and allow parents to claim them as dependents on their income taxes. It would also allow women to seek financial support from fathers for pregnancy and delivery expenses.

It narrowly passed the House earlier this month. If it clears the Senate, the bill would have to return to the House for another vote because changes have been made to the measure.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s newspapers and websites.