Georgia approves abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy

Judge Robert McBurney ruled as unconstitutional, the law passed in 2019 by the state Congress that banned abortion.

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16 de noviembre, 2022

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A Georgia judge on Tuesday struck down a ban on abortion after six weeks gestation, ruling that the rule was a violation of the country's Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.

The rule went into effect immediately statewide, although Kara Richardson, spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General, Chris Carr, said in a statement that their office has filed a notice of appeal and "will continue to perform the duty of upholding the state's laws in the courts."

With this ruling, Judge Robert McBurney found unconstitutional the law passed by the state Congress in 2019 that prohibited abortion once a human heartbeat was detected, alleging that this measure was enacted when "everywhere in the United States, including Georgia , cited that it was unequivocally unconstitutional for governments - federal, state or local - to veto abortions before the viability" of the fetus.

Violates the right to privacy

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, -which represents doctors and abortion advocacy groups-, had asked McBurney in a lawsuit filed in July to strike down the law on multiple grounds. In their opinion, the old law violated the right to privacy and liberty enshrined in the Georgia Constitution by forcing women in the state to give birth. McBurney's decision was in accordance with the arguments made in the lawsuit and Supreme Court precedent.

Monica Simpson, the lead plaintiff in the case and executive director of Sister Song Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective said , "After a long road, we can finally celebrate the end of an extreme abortion ban in our state."

While we applaud the end of a ban steeped in white supremacy, it should never have existed in the first place. Now is the time to move forward with a vision for Georgia that establishes full bodily autonomy and liberation for our communities. We will continue to work for a Georgia where everyone, including black women and queer, trans and low-income people, have the freedom to choose to have children, not have children and raise the families they have in thriving communities.... We will have to keep fighting in Georgia to hold our legislators accountable, but this ruling shows that we have the power to keep winning....