A Georgia judge struck down a state law banning abortions at 6 weeks of pregnancy – on a national level

On Monday, a judge in Georgia struck down a state abortion law that took effect in 2022 and effectively banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his order that the law violates Georgia’s constitution, stating 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 what will happen to him and him, and to reject state interference in her health care choices.”

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and struck down national abortion laws in 2022, it opened the door to state bans. Thirteen states currently ban abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions. Georgia was one of four where bans take effect after about the first six weeks of pregnancy – often before women realize they are pregnant.

The McBurney ruling would allow abortion for at least 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Kara Murray, a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, said she would immediately appeal to the state Supreme Court. The state high court had previously overturned a separate McBurney ruling that invalidated the law on various grounds and could have delayed Monday’s ruling pending an appeal.

“We believe that Georgia’s lifetime law is fully constitutional,” Murray said.

The bans were felt deeply in the South because many people lived hundreds of miles from states where abortions could be legally performed. If the ruling in the Georgia case stands, it could open new avenues for abortion access not only in Georgia but also for residents of nearby states.

The Georgia law was passed by state lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019, but initially couldn’t go into effect until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which protected abortion rights for nearly 50 years.

In the past, Kemp has tried to soften her political influence by focusing on maternal health. On Monday, he attacked the ruling.

“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. “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.”

Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, called the ruling “ridiculous.”

“This judge is an activist judge who ignores higher court rulings to do whatever he wants,” she said in an interview. “And I don’t think it’s going to last.”

Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, praised the ruling.

“Since we have seen direct attacks here in the South, particularly on access to abortion, we have been very defensive for a really long time,” she said. “We feel that our work was not in vain.”

While Carafem, an abortion provider in Atlanta, plans to expand its services in the next few weeks as permitted, co-founder Melissa Grant said she’s concerned about a turnaround.

“Staff and customers will be living with this possibility hanging over immediate change, which can be devastating for people who are trying to plan their lives and take care of their health,” Grant said.

Kwajelyn Jackson, executive director of Feminist Women’s Health Center, another abortion facility in Atlanta, said they “will not turn away patients based on the presence or absence of fetal heart activity, so we hope that as long as we can, that “We will be able to take care of the patients who need our services.”

Georgian law prohibited most abortions after a “detectable human heartbeat.” Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in the cells of the embryo, which will eventually become the heart after about six weeks of pregnancy.

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Before the new law went into effect, more than 4,400 abortions were performed per month in Georgia. Since the ban was introduced in 2022, the number has dropped by an average of about 2,400 per month, according to data from the Family Planning Society.

The ruling means state law reverts to what it was before, allowing abortions up to about 20 weeks of pregnancy, McBurney wrote.

The right to privacy enshrined in Georgia’s constitution includes the right to make personal health care decisions, he wrote.

“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 “arbitrary six-week ban” on abortion “is inconsistent with these rights and the proper balance that the principle of viability establishes between a woman’s rights to liberty and privacy and society’s interest in the protection and care of unborn children,” the order states.

Claire Bartlett, executive director of the Georgia Life Alliance, expressed confidence that the Georgia Supreme Court will again overturn McBurney’s position, saying he was wrong to try to “create an abortion right out of thin air by stating that it is written in our Constitution.”

“It is simply ironic that in basing his decision on Georgia’s constitutional protection against deprivation of life, liberty or property as proclaimed, he chose to focus on a woman’s right to liberty rather than a child’s right to life,” Barlett said.

Partly because Georgia does not allow citizens to put initiatives on the ballot, there is no referendum on abortion rights scheduled in Georgia’s elections this year. But Democrats focused on abortion because it appeals to women and suburbanites.

On September 20, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Atlanta to label Republican Donald Trump a threat to women’s freedom and lives and warned that if re-elected, Trump would further restrict access to abortion. It’s also a key issue in state legislative races as Democrats try to cut through Republican majorities.

Harris’ visit came after ProPublica reported that two women in the state died because they did not receive proper treatment for complications from taking abortion pills to end their pregnancies. Democrats argue that such deaths were a predictable result of restrictive regulations

Since the Supreme Court’s decision more than two years ago, Harris has been outspoken on abortion rights.

Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta and Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed reporting.