Federal Judge Blocks Georgia ’s Controversial Law Banning Most Abortions After 6 Weeks

A federal judge permanently struck down Georgia’s controversial law banning most abortions after six weeks on Monday, ruling that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The controversial law, which was passed in 2019, would have banned most abortions after a doctor detected fetal cardiac activity, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, sometimes before a woman realizes she is pregnant. The law included some exceptions for victims of rape and incest but only if they had filed official police reports. On Monday, District Judge Steve C. Jones ruled that the law infringed upon constitutional rights, including those established by the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey. “In sum, the undisputed material facts in this case lead to one, indisputable conclusion: that Section 4 of H.B. 481, by prohibiting a woman from terminating her pregnancy upon the detection of a fetal heartbeat, constitutes a pre-viability abortion ban,” Jones wrote in his decision. “As this ban directly conflicts with binding Supreme Court precedent (i.e., the core holdings in Roe, Casey, and their progeny) and thereby infringes upon a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion prior to viability, the Court is left with no other choice but to declare it unconstitutional.” “It is in the public interest, and is this court’s duty, to ensure constitutional rights a...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized georgia News Desk Source Type: news