ATLANTA — A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Georgia’s restrictive abortion law should be allowed to take effect, an outcome that’s been expected since the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years.
The panel of appeals judges sent the case back to a federal district court judge and instructed him to reverse his 2020 ruling and allow the law to take effect, which could take place within days or weeks.
That means most abortions soon will no longer be allowed once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, typically around six weeks of pregnancy and before many know they are pregnant.
However, until U.S. District Judge Steve Jones officially rules, Georgia’s current law will remain in effect, with abortions legal through 20 weeks from conception, or about 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Attorneys debating Georgia’s law were given three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to present additional arguments to the court before it made its ruling. Those were filed Friday.
Martha Zoller, executive director of Georgia Life Alliance, said the state had cleared another hurdle to enacting the law. Georgia Life Alliance was one of the anti-abortion groups to work on the 2019 legislation.
“This is another step on the way to a post-Roe Georgia and we are ready,” Zoller said. “Soon, we can implement the law we worked so hard on that will save babies’ lives.”
Abortion rights groups and providers sued Georgia in 2019 after the Legislature passed the abortion law outlawing the procedure once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity.
The challenge to Georgia’s law had been pending before the three-judge panel at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. In September, the panel put the case on hold, deciding to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dobbs case out of Mississippi.
In July 2020, Jones struck down the Georgia law, leading to the appeal. At the time, Jones found the law violated a woman’s right to an abortion as established by the precedent set in Roe v. Wade.
The new law in Georgia allows abortions after a doctor detects fetal cardiac activity in cases of rape, incest, if the life of the woman is in danger or in instances of “medical futility,” when a fetus would not be able to survive. A police report is required in order to obtain a later abortion if the pregnancy is caused by rape or incest.
Once the Supreme Court ruled in the Mississippi case, it was always likely the Georgia law would be upheld. The only question was when and how.
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, who sued the state on behalf of abortion rights advocates and providers, called the recent rulings on abortion “shameful.”
“It is horrifying that extremist politicians and judges have forced pregnant people and their health care providers into this nightmare,” said Julia Kaye, staff attorney, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “We’ll continue using every tool at our disposal to fight for abortion access in Georgia and across the country so that everyone has the power to decide if and when to have a child.”
Georgia’s new law is different from other states’ “heartbeat” statutes because it includes so-called personhood provisions, where rights are extended to an embryo once fetal cardiac activity can be detected. Parents would be able to claim a fetus, once a heartbeat is detected, on their state income taxes as a dependent, and the measure would also require state officials to count an unborn child toward Georgia’s population. Mothers can also file for child support once cardiac activity is detected.
Since the appeals court ruled that Georgia’s law should take effect, state agencies — such as the Department of Revenue, the Division of Child Support Services and the Georgia State Patrol — will have to figure out how to uphold and enforce those personhood provisions.
———
