A federal appeals court says it will wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a separate Mississippi abortion case before considering a restrictive Georgia abortion law that has blocked a lower court
September 28, 2021, 12:13 p.m.
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ATLANTA – A federal appeals court said Monday it will wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a case intended to overturn its landmark decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to abortion before considering a restrictive abortion law in Georgia, that a lower court blocked.
Mississippi has argued in court records that the US Supreme Court should overturn its decision in Roe against Wade, which upheld the right to abortion. The Supreme Court is due to argue in December on this case. Mississippi law would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of gestation.
The U.S. 11th Court of Appeals, just three days after hearing the arguments on Friday, issued a decision to suspend the Georgia case on whether to overturn a lower court ruling that permanently blocked Georgia law from 2019. That means the law remains blocked and abortions are possible in Georgia for up to 20 weeks after pregnancy.
The ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights had sued on behalf of Georgia abortion providers and an advocacy group to block the law, and a federal judge ruled the law unconstitutional in July 2020.
Staci Fox, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said in a statement emailed Monday that Georgia’s law was “manifestly unconstitutional.”
“The 11th District Court of Appeals responded appropriately to the binding 50-year precedent that says abortion is constitutionally protected health care and our doors remain open,” she said.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp remains confident the state will ultimately prevail in court, spokeswoman Katie Byrd said in an email.
“Georgia is a state that values life and the governor takes pride in defending and defending the LIFE Act,” she said.
The 11th district’s decision to suspend the appeal came as no surprise. District Chairman William Pryor, who, along with District Judge Barbara Lagoa and District Judge Harvey Schlesinger, served on the three-judge panel that heard the arguments in the Georgia case, made it clear on Friday that he believes this is the prudent choice.
Georgian law would have banned most abortions once there was a “detectable human heartbeat”. Heart activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo, which eventually becomes the heart after just six weeks of pregnancy, before many women realize they are pregnant.
The law provides exceptions for rape and incest while a police report is filed. It also provided for later abortions when the mother’s life is in jeopardy or a severe medical condition makes a fetus un viable. The law would also have given a fetus personality and the same rights that humans have after birth.
The decision of Roe v. Wade in 1973 declared a fundamental right to an abortion before the fetus was viable. Planned Parenthood v. Casey narrowed in 1992 that states cannot place undue burdens on women who want an abortion before profitability.
Georgia’s so-called Heartbeat Bill was one of a wave of laws passed by Republican-controlled lawmakers in recent years to attack these rulings as anti-abortion activists and lawmakers saw an opportunity in a new Conservative Supreme Court majority.
:quality(70)/d1hfln2sfez66z.cloudfront.net/11-11-2021/t_2b093e04f3c9423aa6bb88152d3e54c3_name_Jewell_memorial.jpg "Georgia World Congress Heart Authority honors Richard Jewell at Centennial Olympic Park – WSB-TV Channel 2")
