Judge strikes down Georgia's 6-week abortion ban

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – A Superior Court Judge has struck down Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, in effect since 2022.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney issued the order Monday saying abortion regulation must return to Georgia’s pre-2019 law, which allows the procedure up until about 22 weeks of pregnancy.

“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,” McBurney ruled. “That power is not, however, unlimited. 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.”

The six-week “heartbeat bill” has seen multiple legal challenges since first being passed in 2019. It was deemed unconstitutional in 2020, but the 2022 Supreme Court Decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization allowed the state to enforce the act.

“Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives have been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge,” said a spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp. “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.”

The past two years have seen scores of protests against the law.

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