by Dave Williams | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court Monday reinstated Georgia’s six-week abortion ban while the state appeals last week’s Fulton County Superior Court decision declaring the law unconstitutional.
Judge Robert McBurney ruled the Living Infants and Equality (LIFE) Act the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed in 2019 violates women’s privacy and equal protection rights. The law prohibits abortions in Georgia after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, typically about six weeks into pregnancy, with exceptions including rape, incest, and threats to the life of the mother.
McBurney’s decision came in a lawsuit filed by plaintiffs including the reproductive rights group SisterSong and Planned Parenthood two years ago after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion. The Georgia law had not been allowed to take effect until the high court ruling in the Dobbs case.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr quickly asked for last week’s decision overturning Georgia’s abortion ban to be stayed pending the state’s appeal.
“Elected officials in our state continue their disrespect of Georgia women, treating our bodies as state-owned property,” Andrea Young, executive director of ACLU of Georgia, said following Monday’s ruling.
“Today, the Georgia Supreme Court sided with anti-abortion extremists,” added SisterSong Executive Director Monica Simpson. “Every minute this harmful six-week abortion ban is in place, Georgians suffer. Denying our community members the lifesaving care they deserve jeopardizes their lives, safety, and health.”
Six of the nine justices on the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of staying last week’s lower court decision. Justices Nels S.D. Peterson and Andrew Pinson did not participate.
Justice John Ellington concurred in part and dissented in part. In Monday’s seven-page ruling, Ellington wrote that he saw no urgency for the high court to act while the underlying merits of the case have yet to be decided.
“The state should not be in the business of enforcing laws that have been determined to violate fundamental rights guaranteed to millions of individuals under the Georgia Constitution,” he wrote. “The ‘status quo’ that should be maintained is the state of the law before the challenged laws took effect.”
