Judge overturns sixweek abortion ban

A Fulton County judge has overturned Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, ruling that two key parts of the law “were plainly unconstitutional when drafted, voted upon, and enacted” and writing that the law cannot be enforced.

The ruling, handed down Tuesday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, stemmed from a lawsuit that argued the state’s “heartbeat bill” violated pregnant people’s rights to liberty and privacy rights under the state constitution.

Georgia’s ban has been in effect since July. Kara Richardson, a spokeswoman for Georgia’s attorney general, told Axios that the state will “pursue an immediate appeal and will continue to fulfill our duty to defend the laws of our state in court.”

Georgia’s abortion law was among the strictest in the country when Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed it into law in 2019. The law bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, at roughly six weeks. But it had been blocked from taking effect until this summer, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s decades-old protections, allowing restrictions on the procedure in states with trigger laws to be implemented across the country.

McBurney in his 15-page ruling said when the law took effect, “everywhere in America, including Georgia, it was unequivocally unconstitutional for governments — federal, state, or local — to ban abortions before viability.”

The decision adds new pressure on lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to advance either abortion restrictions or abortion protections.

Kemp, who won re-election last week, could face pressure from anti-abortion advocates to further restrict the procedure in the state once legislative sessions reconvene.