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Abortion Is Legal Up Until 6 Weeks In Georgia
On October 7, 2024, the Supreme Court of Georgia reimplemented the early abortion ban (HB 481) when it granted the State Attorney General’s request for a “stay” – an order to keep the ban in place while the current lawsuit against it proceeds through the court system. With the ban back in place, most Georgians, once again, can only get abortion care up until embryonic cardiac activity is detectable (normally around 6 weeks into pregnancy).
More on the history of HB 481
May 7, 2019: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed into law HB 481, one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans, with an intended implementation date of January 1, 2020.
June 28, 2019: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood filed a legal challenge against HB481, SisterSong v. Brian Kemp, in federal court on the grounds that HB 481 violated the U.S. Constitution. This legal challenge was on behalf of SisterSong, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Planned Parenthood Southeast, Atlanta Comprehensive Wellness Clinic, Atlanta Women’s Medical Center, Carafem, Columbus Women’s Health Organization, Summit Medical Associates, and individual abortion providers.
July 23, 2019: The plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit asked for a preliminary injunction of the law to delay its implementation.
October 1, 2019: The court granted this preliminary injunction, delaying the implementation of the law until the courts make a decision.
June 15, 2020: Oral arguments were heard by the U.S. District Court for the North District of Georgia on June 15, 2020. The judge decided to wait to issue his decision until the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) released its decision on the case of a Louisiana abortion regulation, June Medical Services v. Russo.
June 29, 2020: SCOTUS ruled in June Medical Services v. Russo to strike down Louisiana’s admitting privileges law as unconstitutional, and also to uphold “third-party standing,” allowing providers and clinics to continue to bring cases forward on behalf of their patients (as several of the plaintiffs in SisterSong v. Kemp were doing).
July 13, 2020: The federal district court struck down HB 481, finding it violated the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by the 1976 precedent-setting case Roe v. Wade. The state of Georgia immediately appealed this decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court decided to wait to issue their decision until SCOTUS released its decision in the case of a Mississippi abortion ban, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
July 20, 2022: On July 20, 2022, the 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled to allow HB 481, Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban, to go into effect immediately. The court found that the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade (on June 24, 2022) meant there was no longer a federal standard protecting abortion rights from state-level efforts to ban the procedure. This marked the end of the federal lawsuit against HB 481. As a result, abortion is now legal in Georgia only before embryonic cardiac activity can be detected (which is typically around 6 weeks of pregnancy), except in limited circumstances such as rape, incest, and medical threat to the life of the pregnant person. HB 481 also redefines an embryo and fetus as persons in Georgia’s legal code.
July 26, 2022: On July 26, the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood filed another legal challenge against HB481 – this time in state court – on the grounds that the law also violated parts of Georgia’s state constitution. This lawsuit, SisterSong v. State of Georgia, was filed on behalf of SisterSong, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Planned Parenthood Southeast, Atlanta Comprehensive Wellness Clinic, Atlanta Women’s Medical Center, Carafem, Summit Medical Associates, Medical Students for Choice, and individual abortion providers.
November 15: On November 15, the Fulton County Superior Court overturned Georgia's early abortion ban (HB 481), on the grounds that according to Georgia law, the ban remained null and void because it violated the U.S. Constitution at the time of its initial passage in 2019, based on Georgia’s void ab initio doctrine. This overturn allowed Georgians to once again get abortion care up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. In response, Georgia’s Attorney General filed to appeal that ruling with the state Supreme Court and also asked the Supreme Court for an “emergency stay” – an order to keep the ban in place while the current lawsuit against it proceeds through the court system.
The stay was granted on November 23, putting the ban back into effect until the Georgia Supreme Court rules on the state’s appeal. With the ban back in place, most Georgians can once again get legal abortion care only up until embryonic cardiac activity is detectable (normally around 6 weeks into pregnancy).
October 24, 2023: The Georgia Supreme Court overruled the previous decision of the Fulton Superior Court, thus allowing HB 481 to remain in place. However, this action was taken on the “procedural” arguments of the case, rejecting the void ab initio argument; the case was sent back to the lower court so that arguments on the “merits” of the case (i.e. the contents of the law) could proceed.
September 30, 2024: The Superior Court of Fulton County issued a ruling on September 30 finding that the Georgia Constitution prohibits political interference with an individual’s abortion decision before viability. Based on that ruling, the court enjoined HB 481, reverting Georgia to the restrictions that were in place before 2022. With this suspension of the six-week ban, people could once again access abortion care in the state until around 22 weeks of pregnancy.
October 2, 2024: Attorney General Chris Carr’s office filed an appeal to the Superior Court’s ruling, and also asked the Georgia Supreme Court to reinstate Georgia’s six-week ban while the appeal process goes on.
October 7, 2024: The Supreme Court of Georgia issued a stay on the lower court’s decision, thus reinstating the state’s six-week ban for the duration of the appeal process. As a result, people in Georgia once again lost their right to abortion care beyond six weeks of pregnancy – just one week after regaining that right. The ban will remain in effect indefinitely while the state’s appeal proceeds in the Georgia Supreme Court.
Georgia law, as currently enforced, bans abortion procedures after around 6 weeks of pregnancy, before many people even know they are pregnant. Not only was this bill blatantly unconstitutional when it was passed, but it also directly contradicted best medical and public health practices and has cost Georgians millions of dollars in court fees to defend this law—-money that could have been better used to decrease maternal and infant mortality rates and expand access to healthcare. Restrictions like HB 481 disproportionately affect the health and autonomy of communities like ours: those who are Black, brown, young, LGBTQI, immigrant, or striving to make ends meet.
We will continue to fight back against these blatant attacks on our rights and agency, both in the courts and in the streets, and will not stop until all Georgians have access to affordable, dignified, and comprehensive reproductive health services.
Access Reproductive Care (ARC) – Southeast
American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia
Amplify Georgia
Feminist Women’s Health Center
NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) Georgia Chapter
Planned Parenthood Southeast
SisterLove, Inc.
SisterSong
SPARK Reproductive Justice Now!, Inc.
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
Women Engaged