A small group, including Stephanie Batchelor, left, sat on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 26, 2022. The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 23 restored the state’s ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.
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A small group, including Stephanie Batchelor, left, sat on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 26, 2022. The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 23 restored the state’s ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.
Gray Wharf/AP
ATlanTA – The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated the state’s ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, abruptly ending access to abortions that were then resumed a few days earlier.
In a one-page order, the judges issued a lower court ruling rescinding the pending injunction while they considered an appeal. Abortion providers who have continued the procedure for the past six weeks have to stop again.
Lawyers and advocates who pushed for the ban to be lifted said the abrupt stop would hurt women who now have to make travel arrangements to other states to have an abortion or stay pregnant.
Alice Wang, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents abortion providers challenging Georgia’s ban, said: “It is outrageous that this extreme law is back in effect, only to days after being legitimately blocked. “This legal game of ping pong is causing chaos for healthcare providers trying to do their job and for patients who are now frantically searching for the abortion services they need. need.”
The state attorney general’s office in a court filing said the “uncountable number of unborn children” would “suffer permanent consequences” if the state’s Supreme Court does not issue a suspension. and halted the November 15 ruling by Judge Robert McBurney of the Fulton County Superior Court.
McBurney ruled State abortion ban invalid because when it was signed into law in 2019, the US Supreme Court precedent was set by Roe v. Wade and another ruling allowed abortions beyond six weeks.
The decision immediately prohibits enforcement of the statewide abortion ban. The state appealed and asked the Georgia Supreme Court to pause the decision while the appeal proceeded.
Although abortions after six weeks have resumed, some abortion providers say they proceed with caution for fear the ban could be quickly reinstated.
Georgia’s ban went into effect in July, after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It bans most abortions where there is a “detectable human heartbeat”.
Heart activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells in the embryo that will eventually become the heart around six weeks after pregnancy. That means most abortions in Georgia were effectively banned at a time before many people knew they were pregnant.
The measure was passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Brian Kemp in 2019. In his ruling, McBurney indicated the timing — before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned. the Roe v case. Wade — renders this rule immediately void.
Legislatures, he writes, exceed their authority when enacting laws that violate constitutional rights declared by the judiciary.
To enact the law, the State Legislature would have to pass it again, he wrote.
The state attorney general’s office in a filing with the Georgia Supreme Court criticized McBurney’s argument as having “no basis for law, precedent, or common sense.”
Plaintiffs’ attorneys defended it in an answer and warned of “irreparable harm” to women if it was suspended. They also asked the high court to give 24 hours notice before issuing any adjournment in order to “avoid possible chaos” of continuing the injunction while the woman awaits an abortion or is in the process. abortion.
The state’s Supreme Court did not conduct a hearing before issuing its order, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys said they denied their request for 24-hour notice.
The high court order said seven of the nine judges agreed with the decision. It said one person was disqualified and another did not participate.
