Wednesday 23 November 2022 06:23 PM Georgia Supreme Court brings back six-week abortion BAN as it considers appeal trends now
The Georgia Supreme Court Wednesday reinstated the state's ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.
In a one-page order, the high court put a lower court ruling overturning the ban on hold while it considers an appeal. Abortion providers who had resumed performing the procedure past six weeks after the lower court ruling will again have to stop.
Women's health groups condemned the move.
Amy Kennedy, vice president for external affairs of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said: 'It is unconscionable that the Georgia Supreme Court has chosen to deny pregnant people the ability to decide what is best for their own lives and futures.'
The order said seven of the nine justices had agreed to the decision. It said one was disqualified and another did not participate.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled on November 15 that the state's abortion ban was invalid because when it was signed into law in 2019, U.S. Supreme Court precedent under Roe. v. Wade and another ruling allowed abortion well past six weeks.
Protesters gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this year as it became clear the Supreme Court was on a course to overturn Roe v Wade and strip abortion rights from women
The decision immediately prohibited enforcement of the abortion ban statewide. Abortion providers had resumed performing the procedure past six weeks, though some said they were proceeding cautiously over concerns the ban could be quickly reinstated.
The state attorney general's office appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court. It also asked the high court for an order putting the decision on hold while the appeal was pending.
Georgia's ban took effect in July, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
It meant a 2019 law banning abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks, could go into effect.
Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will eventually become the heart around six weeks into a pregnancy. That means most abortions in Georgia were effectively banned at a point before many people knew they were pregnant.
The abortion ban passed the state legislature and was signed into law under Gov Brian Kemp in 2019. He is pictured here addressing his supporters on election night
The law made exceptions in the case of rape and incest, as long as the woman files a police report first. It also allowed for
