The Georgia Supreme Court has reinstated the ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, and will consider the state’s appeal of a lower court ruling that blocked the law’s implementation, ruling it unconstitutional.
The law was challenged by an Atlanta-based African-American women’s collective, the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.
“Today, the Georgia Supreme Court sided with anti-abortion extremists. With every passing minute, with this harmful ban on abortion after the sixth week in effect, women in Georgia are suffering,” the organization’s executive director, Monica Simpson, said in a statement.
On September 30, Judge Robert McBurney of Fulton County ruled that the law violated the right to privacy and liberty, which is guaranteed by the state constitution.
The law prohibits almost all abortions after a heartbeat is detected, which usually occurs around the 6th week of pregnancy. The law was passed in 2019 but was not implemented until after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the precedent of Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed women’s right to abortion nationwide.
Today’s Supreme Court ruling is temporary but will continue to apply until the justices hear arguments from both sides and render a final decision.
