November 23 (Reuters) – Georgia may pass a law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy while the state appeals a lower court order overturning it, the state’s highest court ruled on Wednesday.
The Georgia Supreme Court did not reason its unanimous order. The state law, which originally went into effect last summer, has been challenged by Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups.
“It is unconscionable that the Georgia Supreme Court ruled to deny pregnant people the ability to make decisions about what is best for their own lives and futures,” said Amy Kennedy, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Southeast. in a statement.
A spokesman for Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr, who defends the law, declined to comment.
Georgia passed legislation in 2019 banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually at about six weeks. The law was immediately blocked because the US Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade recognized abortion rights in 1973. It was enacted shortly after Roe was overthrown by the Supreme Court in June.
Judge Robert McBurney of the Superior Court of Fulton County ruled last week that the law could not be enforced because it was void at the time it was passed. He said the state legislature could pass new legislation banning abortion after Roe is repealed.
The groups challenging the law also argued that it violated Georgians’ basic rights to liberty and privacy under the state constitution and endangered women’s health, but McBurney did not address those arguments.
Around a dozen states have since the end of Roe v. Wade pushed through near-total abortion bans, many including Georgia in the southeastern United States.
Reporting by Ismail Shakil; Edited by Tim Ahmann and Bill Berkrot
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Brendan Pierson
