(Savannah) The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday stayed a court ruling that struck down the state's impending ban on abortion while the high court considers the Georgia government's appeal.
A week ago, a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled that it is unconstitutional to ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, often before women realize they are pregnant.
Judge Robert McBurney ruled on September 30 that the privacy rights guaranteed by the Georgia State Constitution include the right to make one's own health care decisions.
Georgia's restrictions were part of a wave of abortion laws passed in Republican-controlled states after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the landmark ruling. Roe v. Wade It ended the right to abortion, which had been guaranteed throughout the United States for 50 years.
Georgia law prohibits most abortions as soon as a human heartbeat “can be detected.” However, at about six weeks of pregnancy, heart activity can be detected by ultrasound in the fetal cells that will eventually become the heart.
Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed the law in 2019, but it did not take effect until after it was repealed. Roe v. Wade In 2022.
“Liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections and in its range of rights, the ability of a woman to control her body, to decide what happens to her and what happens within herself, and to refuse state interference in her health care choices,” Judge McBurney wrote in his ruling a week ago.
Judge McBurney added: “When the fetus growing inside a woman reaches the stage of life, and when society can assume the care and responsibility of this separate life, only then can society intervene.”
Thus, the judge's decision restored Georgia's abortion limits to previous law, which allowed abortion until the fetus was still alive, or approximately 22 to 24 weeks after the start of pregnancy.
“Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives has been overridden by the judge’s personal beliefs,” Governor Kemp said. “Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities. Georgia will remain a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn.”
Abortion providers and abortion advocates in Georgia praised Judge McBurney's ruling, but expressed concern that it could be overturned by the state Supreme Court.
