2020 Georgia Code
Title 31 - Health
Chapter 2A - Department of Public Health
Article 2 - Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program
§ 31-2A-31. Definitions

As used in this article, the term:

1. "Attending physician" means the physician who has primary responsibility at the time of reference for the treatment and care of the client.
2. "Client" means a person seeking or receiving pregnancy support services.
3. "Contract management agency" or "agency" means a nongovernmental charitable organization in this state which is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and whose mission and practice is to promote alternatives to abortion services at no cost.
4. "Direct client service providers" or "providers" means nonprofit organizations with a contractual relationship with the contract management agency and that provide direct pregnancy support services to clients at no cost.
5. Reserved.
6. "Pregnancy support services" means those services that encourage childbirth instead of voluntary termination of pregnancy and which assist pregnant women or women who believe they may be pregnant to choose childbirth whether they intend to parent or select adoption for the child.
7. "Program" means the Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program.

(Code 1981, §31-2A-31, enacted by Ga. L. 2016, p. 214, § 2/SB 308; Ga. L. 2017, p. 764, § 2-2/SB 193; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1112, § 31/SB 365.)

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, near the end of paragraph (3), substituted "promote" for "provide" and deleted "to medically indigent women" following "services" near the end; substituted the present provisions of paragraph (5) for the former provisions, which read: "'Medically indigent' means a person who is without health insurance or who has health insurance that does not cover pregnancy or related conditions for which treatment and services are sought and whose family income does not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty level as defined annually by the federal Office of Management and Budget."; and substituted the present provisions of paragraph (8) for the former provisions, which read: "'Trust fund' means the Indigent Care Trust Fund created by Code Section 31-8-152.".

The 2018 amendment, effective May 8, 2018, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, repealed the reservation of paragraph (8).

- Ga. L. 2017, p. 764, § 1-1/SB 193, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "The General Assembly finds that:

"(1) Untreated chlamydial infection has been linked to problems during pregnancy, including preterm labor, premature rupture of membranes, and low birth weight. The newborn may also become infected during delivery as the baby passes through the birth canal. Exposed newborns can develop eye and lung infections; and

"(2) Untreated gonococcal infection in pregnancy has been linked to miscarriages, premature birth and low birth weight, premature rupture of membranes, and chorioamnionitis. Gonorrhea can also infect an infant during delivery as the infant passes through the birth canal. If untreated, infants can develop eye infections."