Savannah, Georgia
AP
—
The Georgia Supreme Court docket on Monday halted a ruling striking down the state’s near-ban on abortions whereas it considers the state’s attraction.
The excessive courtroom’s order got here every week after a choose found that Georgia unconstitutionally prohibits abortions past about six weeks of being pregnant, usually earlier than girls understand they’re pregnant. Fulton County Superior Court docket Decide Robert McBurney dominated on September 30 that privateness rights below Georgia’s structure embrace the best to make private well being care selections.
It was considered one of a wave of restrictive abortion laws handed in Republican-controlled states after the US Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a nationwide proper to abortion. It prohibited most abortions as soon as a “detectable human heartbeat” was current. At round six weeks right into a being pregnant, cardiac exercise might be detected by ultrasound in an embryo’s cells that can ultimately develop into the center.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the measure in 2019, but it surely didn’t take impact till Roe v. Wade fell.
McBurney wrote in his ruling that “liberty in Georgia contains in its that means, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the facility of a girl to regulate her personal physique, to resolve what occurs to it and in it, and to reject state interference together with her well being care selections.”
“When a fetus rising inside a girl reaches viability, when society can assume care and duty for that separate life, then — and solely then — could society intervene,” McBurney wrote.
The choose’s determination rolled again limits in Georgia to a previous regulation permitting abortions till viability, roughly 22 to 24 weeks right into a being pregnant.
“As soon as once more, the desire of Georgians and their representatives has been overruled by the non-public beliefs of 1 choose,” Kemp mentioned in a press release in response to McBurney’s determination. “Defending the lives of essentially the most weak amongst us is considered one of our most sacred tasks, and Georgia will proceed to be a spot the place we struggle for the lives of the unborn.”
Abortion suppliers and advocates in Georgia had applauded McBurney’s ruling however expressed concern that it might quickly be overturned.