The Supreme Court of Georgia, in the United States, decided, this Wednesday (23), for the constitutionality of the legislation that prohibits abortion in the state after six weeks of pregnancy. The law had been suspended last week by a lower court judge.
The legislation was signed into law in 2019 by state governor Brian Kemp of the Republican Party. The text prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a period when doctors usually begin to detect the fetal heart activity.
After this period, abortion can only be legally performed if the woman faces serious injuries or is at risk of death, in addition to cases of rape or incest – the last exceptions are only valid if the pregnant woman presents a police report. Before the legislation, abortion was allowed in the state until the 20th week of pregnancy.
After approval, the bill was the subject of several lawsuits. At the time, the Judiciary understood that the legislation went against the order of the US Supreme Court, which in 1973 determined that abortion is a woman’s constitutional right. The opinion, however, was overturned in June by the same court – this time, with a conservative majority –, and the legislation approved by Georgia was finally introduced.
The latest decisions on the case, by the way, focus on the opinion of the US Supreme Court. Last week, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said the Georgia law could not be enforced because it was unconstitutional when it was passed. The magistrate’s decision, therefore, obliged the state Legislature to approve a new project on the subject.
On Thursday, however, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously suspended McBurney’s decision, without publicly presenting its arguments. The appeal had been filed by the state attorney general.
“It is inconceivable that the Georgia Supreme Court would deny pregnant women the ability to determine what is best for their own lives and futures,” said Amy Kennedy, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Southeast, a pro-child rights organization. abortion and one of the plaintiffs of the action.
Groups contesting the law have argued that it violates Georgians’ fundamental rights to freedom and privacy under the state’s constitution and puts women’s health at risk.
About 10 US states have imposed near-complete abortion bans since the Supreme Court’s ruling, most of them in the South.
In the opposite direction, in early November, voters in Michigan, California and Vermont approved amendments that add the right to abortion to local Constitutions. In Kentucky, Americans said no to an amendment that would state that there is no right to abortion or any support for the procedure in the state Constitution.
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