ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First/Gray News) – A judge has struck down Georgia’s ban on abortions at roughly six weeks, two years after the controversial law known as the “heartbeat bill” took effect.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s ruling allows the procedure to once again be performed after a doctor detects a fetal heartbeat.
The issue of abortion and reproductive rights is a crucial issue in Georgia’s electoral and social scenes.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the Republican Party continue to advocate for abortion restrictions, while Vice President Kamala Harris has made the issue central to her historic Democratic presidential campaign.
“Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives have been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge,” a spokesperson for Kemp’s office said. “Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities, and Georgia will continue to be a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn.”
Last year, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that halted the state’s controversial ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and sent the case back to Fulton County Superior Court to consider the merits of the other challenges brought by the law’s opponents.
That ruling upheld Georgia’s LIFE Act, also known as the “heartbeat bill,” which prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually at around a pregnancy’s six-week mark. The Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling focused on whether the legislation is viable since it was passed in 2019 when Roe v. Wade was still in effect and guaranteed a federal right to abortion.
Georgia’s law was passed by state lawmakers and signed by the Republican governor in 2019 but had been blocked from taking effect until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected the right to an abortion for nearly 50 years. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Georgia to begin enforcing its abortion law just over three weeks after the high court’s decision in June 2022.
A legal consideration known as “void ab initio” dictates lawmakers can’t pass an unconstitutional law, knowingly or unknowingly, even if it later becomes constitutional. It’s the consideration Fulton County Superior Court Judge McBurney used to put a hold on the ban almost a year ago. The state Supreme Court reinstated the ban while the case worked its way through the legal system.
The opponents of Georgia’s heartbeat bill in the lawsuit is an organization of pro-choice advocates known as SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Coalition.
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