The Georgia supreme court on Monday reinstated the state’s six-week abortion ban while it reviews the Republican-led appeal of a lower court decision that briefly struck down the law.
The pro-life law, known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, outlaws most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, once the baby’s heartbeat is detected. It is set to take effect again at 5 p.m. on Monday.
Governor Brian Kemp signed the six-week abortion ban in 2019, but it did not take effect until July 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. Later that year, Fulton County Superior Court judge Robert McBurney overturned the law until the state supreme court restored it in 2023.
McBurney once again ruled against Georgia’s “arbitrary” abortion ban last week, contending it violates the rights to liberty, privacy, and equal protection under the state constitution.
“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 health care choices,” Judge McBurney wrote on September 30.
“That power is not, however, unlimited,” he added. “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.”
McBurney’s ruling allowed abortion to resume up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, prompting Georgia attorney general Chris Carr to immediately appeal the decision.
“Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives has been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge,” Kemp said last week. “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.”
On Monday, six of nine justices fully agreed to halt McBurney’s ruling while Georgia appeals. Though the six-week abortion ban was reinstated, the state supreme court’s order precluded one provision from being restored.
“Health records shall be available to the district attorney of the judicial circuit in which the act of abortion occurs or the woman upon whom an abortion is performed resides,” a section of the law reads. The justices did not provide an explanation for the exemption.
Abortion remains a top campaign issue this election cycle, especially in Georgia. Vice President Kamala Harris capitalized on her support from pro-abortion voters in the state last month by drawing attention to the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, both of whom died from abortion complications after ingesting abortion medication two years ago. Harris blamed Georgia’s six-week abortion ban for their deaths.
The Democratic presidential nominee labeled the state law a “Trump abortion ban” in an attempt to tie former president Donald Trump to the state abortion bans that came after the reversal of Roe in 2022. Trump has repeatedly boasted that he was responsible for sending the abortion issue back to the states.
Harris has also said she would prevent a federal abortion ban from becoming law and sign a bill to restore abortion rights if she wins the November election.