Georgia Supreme Court Reinstates Near-Abortion Ban Pending State Appeal

SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday stayed a ruling overturning the state’s near-law ban on abortion while it considers the state’s appeal.

The Supreme Court’s ruling came a week after a judge found that Georgia unconstitutionally prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, often before women realize they are pregnant. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled on September 30 that privacy rights under the Georgia state constitution include the right to make personal health care decisions.

The state Supreme Court stayed McBurney’s ruling at the request of Republican state Attorney General Chris Carr, whose office appealed.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice John J. Ellington argued that the case “should not be decided in advance in the state’s favor before an appeal is even registered.”

“The state should not be in the business of enforcing laws that have been found to violate the fundamental rights guaranteed to millions of people under the Georgia Constitution,” Ellington wrote. “The ‘status quo’ that should be maintained is the legal status before the entry into force of the challenged provisions.”

Clare Bartlett, executive director of the Georgia Life Alliance, called the Supreme Court’s decision “the right thing,” fearing that without it, women from other states would start coming to Georgia for surgical abortions.

“There is no right to privacy in the abortion process because another person is involved in the process,” Bartlett said. She added: “This is about protecting those who are most vulnerable and cannot speak for themselves.”

Monica Simpson, executive director of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, said the state Supreme Court “sided with anti-abortion extremists.” Her group is among the plaintiffs challenging the state law.

“Every minute this harmful six-week abortion ban remains in effect, Georgians are suffering,” Simpson said in a statement. “Denying members of our community the life-saving care they deserve puts their lives, safety and health at risk – all in the name of power and control over our bodies.”

Leaders of Carafem, an Atlanta abortion provider that planned to expand its services after McBurney’s ruling, expressed dismay at the reinstatement of the law.

“Carafem will continue to provide abortion services in accordance with the letter of the law,” said Melissa Grant, the facility’s chief operating officer. “But we remain angry and disappointed, and we hope that eventually people will come back to a more reasonable view of this issue, consistent with those who need care.”

The Georgia law, signed by Republican Brian Kemp in 2019, was one of a wave of restrictive abortion measures that took effect in Republican-controlled states after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and abolished the national abortion law. It banned most abortions after a “detectable human heartbeat.” Around the sixth week of pregnancy, cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in the cells of the embryo that will eventually become the heart.

Monday’s one-page order from the Georgia Supreme Court exempted the reinstatement of one specific provision of the state’s abortion law.

Without explanation, the court said the state could not enforce a section of the law that reads: “The health records shall be available to the district attorney in the judicial district in which the abortion occurred or to the woman on whom the abortion was performed. performed residencies.”

Thirteen U.S. states currently enforce abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy, and four prohibit abortions around the sixth week of pregnancy.

McBurney wrote in his ruling that “freedom in Georgia includes in its meaning, protection and package of rights a woman’s power to control her own body, to decide what happens to and in it, and to reject state interference in her care choices health.”

“When the fetus developing inside a woman becomes viable, when society can assume care and responsibility for this separate life, then – and only then – can society intervene,” McBurney wrote.

The judge’s decision rolled back abortion limits in Georgia to a previous law that allowed abortion until viability, which is roughly 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

“Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives was overridden by the personal beliefs of one of the judges,” Kemp said in a statement responding to McBurney’s decision. “Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred duties, and Georgia will continue to be the place where we fight for the lives of the unborn.”

Abortion providers and abortion advocates in Georgia praised McBurney’s ruling but expressed concern that it would soon be overturned.

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AP reporters Kate Brumback, Jeff Amy and Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta contributed to this story.