ATLANTA — A bill that would criminalize race-based abortions narrowly cleared committee Wednesday at the Georgia Capitol, drawing the Georgia General Assembly closer to a full-blown abortion debate.

House Bill 1155 grew out of Georgia Right to Life’s ongoing campaign to widen its reach in the black community. The group has placed billboards in the Atlanta area that state “Black children are an endangered species.” The group is taking statistics that show abortions to be much more common among minorities than among whites, combining them with the locations of abortion clinics and counseling centers near black neighborhoods, and using this correlation to accuse abortion advocates of outright eugenics.

The bill would make it illegal for anyone to solicit or coerce a woman to have an abortion “based in any way on account of the race, color or sex of the unborn child.” Doctors would face up to 10 years in prison if they perform an abortion despite knowing that the woman has been coerced. The women who get the abortions would not be criminally liable, the bill states.

Opponents brought up several issues with the bill during Wednesday’s committee meeting, which lasted most of the afternoon and was one of several hearings held on the bill. Some thought it hypocritical to go after doctors but not women who want an abortion based on the baby’s sex or race. Some said the measure won’t pass constitutional muster and will cost Georgia significant money to fight in court.

Several people from pro-abortion, pro-women and minority advocacy groups said the measure will have a chilling effect, leaving doctors nervous to perform any abortion on a black woman.

But the bottom line for this debate may be its potential to force, as sponsoring state Rep. Barry Loudermilk said, “a pro-life versus pro-choice vote on the floor” of the House and eventually the state Senate.

Wednesday’s vote to pass the bill out of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee was 7-6. That moves the bill to the House Rules Committee, which decides which bills make it to the House floor to be debated and voted upon by all 180 members. Loudermilk, R-Cassville, said he expects the bill to make it to the floor and pass.

So did state Rep. Nikki Randall, D-Macon, who serves on the Judiciary Non Civil Committee and voted against the bill Wednesday. Randall also serves on the House Rules Committee. As a Democrat, she is in the minority there. “It’s going to put physicians in an awkward position,” Randall said. “They’re going to have to act under the duress of thinking, ‘OK, did I ask the right questions?’ ”

Senator: Fewer judges needed in Dublin, Cordele

A prominent state senator wants to get rid of 19 Superior Court judges across the state to save money during the ongoing budget crisis.

Two of the judges would be from the midstate, with the Dublin and Cordele judicial circuits losing one judge each under state Sen. Mitch Seabough’s plan.

Seabough, R-Sharpsburg, is the Senate majority whip, making him part of the Republican leadership in the Senate. His measure would reduce the number of Superior Court judges in the state to 186 with most of the eliminations (four) in the Atlanta judicial circuit.

Seabough said Wednesday he focused on circuits where judges see an average of 1,200 cases a year, as opposed to the average in many areas of 3,200 a year.

“In this budget atmosphere, nobody is exempt from cuts,” Seabough said in a news release. “If we can find significant savings in areas where we can consolidate, those are cuts we won’t have to make to education. This is an initial proposal. I’m asking for input from the courts to ensure that the right judgeships are eliminated.”

The Telegraph’s efforts to reach the chief judges in Dublin and Cordele were not successful Wednesday. Seabough is the only sponsor of this measure, contained in Senate Bill 485, and he acknowledged Wednesday that it faces an uphill battle, the Associated Press reported.

Bill would require termite inspections

All houses would have to have a professional termite inspection before they sell, according to legislation moving forward at the state Capitol.

House Bill 1048 would require a sign-off from a licensed inspector before a sale is completed. It passed the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee Wednesday 7-5. It moves to the House Rules Committee, which will decide whether to send it to the full House for a floor debate.

There was some concern in committee Wednesday that the bill is not needed because it should be a buyer’s personal responsibility to make sure a home doesn’t have termites before buying it. There also is some question whether the bill, as worded, would include mobile homes.

Telegraph staff writer Travis Fain compiled this report.