The appeal comes amid a string of high-profile cases involving restrictions on abortion rights as some states push to end Roe v. to contest Wade.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion law will be tried in the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Circuits on Friday as the state appeals a federal ruling last year that found the law unconstitutional.
The appeal comes amid a string of high-profile cases involving restrictions on abortion rights as some states push to end Roe v. to contest Wade. The 11th Circuit will stream hearings on YouTube.
The court starts streaming at 9am. Court Calendar Lists “Heartbeat” Case – SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, et al. v Governor of the State of Georgia – Second on the day.
You can watch the live stream of the court hearings here
Georgia’s case is unlikely to resonate as widely as a new Texas law — attempting to ban most abortions through a novel and controversial law enforcement concept — or a Mississippi law that challenges Roe head-on and before the Supreme Court in December should be negotiated.
RELATED: Why Texas law is wildly different from Georgia’s ‘heartbeat’ abortion law
But Georgia law is trying to go further than Mississippi law – which bans abortions in most cases after 15 weeks – and specifically brings to court the concept of the “fetal heartbeat,” which states have used to limit abortions around the six Ban weeks around, often before many women realize they are pregnant.
A federal judge ruled last year that Georgia’s law is clearly unconstitutional. – Judge Steve C. Jones, in a decision blocking the law, wrote that it “contradicts binding Supreme Court precedent and thus violates[the]right to privacy and liberty secured by the Fourteenth Amendment.”
If the 11th Circuit agrees with the federal court judge, Georgia could appeal to the Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court were to take the case at this point, it would be examining the constitutionality of abortion laws that cite the concept of the “fetal heartbeat” — which, if upheld by the Supreme Court, could potentially further undermine Roe.
It’s also possible that if Georgia loses its appeal with the 11th Circuit, it will forego an appeal and instead let the legislature simply pass a copy of Texas law.
RELATED: Georgia’s ‘heartbeat’ bill could get a Texas-style solution
The future of this law is uncertain — what the divided Supreme Court did in the Texas case was leave the law in place for now, saying the case “presents complex and novel … procedural issues.” They basically refused to act under the law, either for or against, because of the way Texas law was constructed — with a system where ordinary people enforce it by using an abortion provider or anyone who helping a woman get an abortion, being sued – high is unusual and essentially unprecedented.
The decision specifically states that “this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas law.”
In fact, the Supreme Court is waiting for the Texas law to actually go into effect – which will require a lawsuit against an abortion provider and then interpretation of the law by the lower courts – before turning to the state’s Supreme Court for a final decision can .
In the meantime, the court will likely have already considered Roe’s base salary through the Mississippi case.
