Health care providers and abortion rights advocates are suing the state of Georgia to challenge a six-week abortion ban that went into effect last week.
Driving the news: The six-week ban had been blocked since 2019. Three weeks after the Supreme Court ruled Roe v. Wade, a federal judge reversed the statute’s injunction, making it immediately enforceable.
- HB 481 prohibits most abortions once heart activity has been detected in an embryo – generally around six weeks before many people know they are pregnant.
Game Status: The providers in the case argue that the law violates Georgians’ right to privacy.
- Additionally, they argue that the law gives prosecutors the power “to access the medical records of people seeking an abortion without a subpoena.” This “exposes the most intimate medical conditions and personal circumstances of Georgians to state officials in blatant defiance of the Georgia Constitution and precedent of the Georgia Supreme Court.”
- The plaintiffs are asking the court to block the law while the legal challenge continues.
What you say: “This abortion ban sends the troubling message that Georgia is closed to women who seek equal opportunities and basic rights to make private decisions about their futures,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit .
The other side: “We are currently reviewing this filing and will uphold our constitutional duty, as we do with all lawsuits against the state,” a a spokesman for the Georgia Attorney General’s office said in a statement to Axios.
go deeper: How could the lawsuit over abortion in Georgia continue?
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with additional details.
