CNN reported that the Georgia Supreme Court halted a lower court ruling that struck down the state's restrictive abortion law on Monday (Oct. 7). The high court's decision came one week after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled the ban to be unconstitutional. As he stated in September, it goes against a woman's right to make personal healthcare decisions.
The contested legislation was signed into law by Republican Governor Brian Kemp and prohibits most abortions after cardiac activity is detected in the embryo. This was explained as around six weeks into pregnancy, often before many women realize they're expecting. While the law was signed in 2019, it remained dormant until the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Judge McBurney's ruling effectively restored Georgia's Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that was enacted in 2012. At that time, women were able to have the procedure until fetal viability, which was described as “roughly 22 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.”
“A review of our higher courts’ interpretations of ‘liberty’ demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices,” McBurney said. “That power is not, however, unlimited. When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then – and only then – may society intervene.”
As expected, the decision drew sharp criticism from Governor Kemp. He argued that it represented “the personal beliefs of one judge” overruling the will of Georgia's citizens. “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,” he wrote in a statement.