Georgia says an ‘unborn child’ counts as a dependent and qualifies for tax deduction

Georgia’s abortion ban counts a fetus as a person. And now, so does its tax code. State’s Department of Revenue announced this week that people can now claim an “unborn child” as a dependent on their state taxes.

“Any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat” can be claimed as a dependent

The state’s Department of Revenue announced this week that “any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat” can be claimed as a dependent. A taxpayer can claim a $3,000 tax exemption for each pregnancy within a household, months before the child is born.

Notably, Georgia’s law bans most abortions after six weeks. It is usually around when doctors can begin to detect cardiac activity.

The announcement marks a new frontier of anti-abortion policymaking

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, the “Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act” was allowed to take effect. Moreover, the definition of a dependent in the country was amended to include an “unborn child” with a detectable heartbeat. Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona have passed abortion bans that include language broadly defining a fetus as a person.

Separately, nearly 40 states, including Texas and California, define a fetus as a person in cases involving homicide. For example, Scott Peterson 2004 was convicted in California of murdering his wife and unborn child. His wife, Laci Peterson, was eight months pregnant when she was killed.

In a recent incident, a pregnant Texas woman ticketed for riding in the HOV lane alone argued that her fetus counted as a person under the state’s abortion ban. Texas’ abortion ban does not include fetal personhood, but its penal code does. There is a lot of ambiguity around this.

The directives released from the Revenue Department did not address miscarriages

Taxpayers will have to be prepared to provide “relevant medical records or other supporting documentation” to support the dependent deduction claimed, the department said. It did not specify what those documents would be.

It is not known how the tax filings will play out for pregnancies that don’t come to term, or how it affects surrogates and unmarried parents living separately. The directives released from the Revenue Department did not address miscarriages. However, it said tax return instructions will be issued later this year.