“So the human being inside of us is above that choice for abortion. “I believe that humanity supersedes choice,” said Jessica Daniel with Georgia Life Alliance. The Senate’s version passed by a 34-18 vote last Friday, but the changes approved by the Senate had to be approved and reconciled in the House.īoth sides have been making their voices heard at the State Capitol throughout the process. RELATED: 'Heartbeat bill' passes Georgia Senate 34-18 The bill makes exceptions in the case of rape and incest, but only when the woman files a police report first, as well as when a fetus is deemed not compatible with life. ![]() Women in Georgia can currently seek an abortion up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy. House Bill 481 would ban most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is around six weeks of gestation. ![]() Together, we will ensure that all Georgians are safe and have the opportunity to live, grow, learn, and prosper.” We must work to ease the adoption process, find loving homes for those in our foster care system, and protect the aging and vulnerable. Our efforts to protect life do not end here. I thank these lawmakers for their leadership and applaud their undeniable courage. The legislature’s bold action reaffirms our priorities and who we are as a state. We stand up for the innocent and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. The case is Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justices Collective v. Planned Parenthood receives funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Bloomberg Law owner Michael Bloomberg.īondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP, Caplan Cobb LLC, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Inc., American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Georgia Inc., Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America represent the plaintiffs. Whether a post-heartbeat ban violates Georgia’s constitution can’t be decided at present because it isn’t yet the law in the state, he said. McBurney invalidated two of three provisions, but refused to weigh in on the state constitutional issue. HB 481 violates the Georgia Constitution’s rights to privacy, liberty, and equal protection, according to SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Planned Parenthood Southeast Inc., and others. Physicians who violate the law faced a potential prison sentence of one to ten years, loss of their medical licenses, and civil suits by patients.Ībortion advocates, including a group representing women of color, sued Georgia in state court to stop it from enforcing three amendments to Georgia’s LIFE Act. The law at issue made exceptions for cases of medical emergencies, rape, or incest where there’s an official police report. McBurney previously denied a motion to block the law’s enforcement pending trial, saying he didn’t have the power to issue an injunction before hearing the case on the merits. McBurney also shot down a provision that required providers to report performing an abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat, but he left in place a provision of the law that requires doctors to perform ultrasound examinations before an abortion. But that will require the state legislature to determine “in the sharp glare of public attention that will undoubtedly and properly attend such an important and consequential debate whether the rights of unborn children justify such a restriction on women’s right to bodily autonomy and privacy,” he said. The six-week ban may someday be the law in Georgia, McBurney said. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, make no difference, he said. Subsequent events, such as the top court’s overruling of that precedent in Dobbs v. The law banning abortions before viability, after embryonic cardiac activity is detected, was illegal under controlling US Supreme Court precedent at the time of its enactment and, therefore, “is forever void,” McBurney said. The constitutionality of a law, moreover, is to be determined on the date of its passage by lawmakers, he said. “In Georgia, it is fundamental that 'egislative acts in violation of this Constitution or the Constitution of the United States are void, and the judiciary shall so declare them,’” McBurney wrote in Tuesday’s opinion. The law relating to previability abortions reverts back to what it was as of Dec. Abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy are currently legal in Georgia after a state trial judge ruled that the so-called “heartbeat” ban is void because it was unequivocally unconstitutional when it was adopted in 2019.įulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney confirmed that the law isn’t enforceable following a two-day trial that concluded Oct.
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