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brian kemp
Judge Strikes Down Georgia's Six-Week Abortion Ban in 'Absolutely Epic Ruling'
"Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy," Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his decision.
Sep 30, 2024
Reproductive rights defenders cheered Monday's ruling by a Georgia judge striking down the state's six-week abortion ban as a violation of "a woman's right to control what happens to and within her body," a decision that means the medical procedure will be legal up to approximately 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney excoriated the LIFE Act, which was signed into law in 2019 by Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and prohibits abortion care after fetal cardiac activity can be detected. The so-called "fetal heartbeat" law—a medically misleading term—is applicable before many people even know they're pregnant.
Other states including Kentucky, Mississippi, and Ohio passed similar "heartbeat" laws in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, which occurred in 2022 when the tribunal's right-wing supermajority issued its Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.
"Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote," McBurney wrote in his ruling. "Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have."
"It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid's Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could—or should—force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another," the judge said.
"It is generally men who promote and defend laws like the LIFE Act, the effect of which is to require only women—and, given the socio-economic and demographic evidence presented at trial, primarily poor women, which means in Georgia primarily Black and brown women—to engage in compulsory labor, i.e., the carrying of a pregnancy to term at the government's behest," McBurney added.
As Jessica Valenti noted on her Abortion, Every Day Substack, "the ruling comes just weeks after ProPublica's investigation into the deaths of two women killed by Georgia's abortion ban, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller.
As NBC News reported Monday:
The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and other plaintiffs in 2019 soon after Kemp signed it into law. As it faced the legal challenge, in 2022, McBurney ruled that year that the law violated the U.S. Constitution in 2022 and struck it down. The Georgia Supreme Court, however, soon took up the case and allowed it to remain in effect. The case was sent back to McBurney, who found the law in violation of the state's constitution.
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective executive director Monica Simpson said in a statement that Monday's ruling is "a significant step in the right direction towards achieving reproductive justice in Georgia."
"We are encouraged that a Georgia court has ruled for bodily autonomy," Simpson continued. "At the same time, we can't forget that every day the ban has been in place has been a day too long—and we have felt the dire consequences with the devastating and preventable deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller."
"For years, Black women have sounded the alarm that abortion bans are deadly," she noted. "While true justice would mean Amber and Candi were still with us today, we will continue to demand accountability to ensure that their lives—and the lives of others who we have yet to learn of—were not lost in vain."
"We know that the fight continues as anti-abortion white supremacists will stop at nothing to control our bodies and attack our liberation," Simpson added. "We are ready for them and will never back down until we achieve reproductive justice: the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, the human right to have children, or not, and raise them in safe and sustainable communities."
Alice Wang, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said that McBurney "has rightfully struck down Georgia's six-week abortion ban as a flagrant violation of Georgia's longstanding and robust right to privacy, restoring access to abortion at a time when too many have been prevented from accessing this critical health care and from deciding what is best for their bodies, health, and family lives."
"For too long, the ban has caused a public health crisis, as evidenced by the testimony plaintiffs presented at trial and devastating stories recently reported about the preventable deaths of Candi Miller and Amber Nicole Thurman," she continued. "Today's ruling is a step toward ensuring that people can access and clinicians can provide critical healthcare without fear of criminalization or stigma."
"This victory demonstrates that when courts faithfully apply constitutional protections for bodily autonomy, laws that restrict access to abortion and force people to continue pregnancies against their will cannot stand," Wang added.
Since the Dobbs ruling, 13 states have passed abortion bans with limited exceptions and 28 states have prohibited the procedure based on gestational duration, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
However, there has been tremendous nationwide pushback against abortion bans, with voters opting to uphold reproductive rights every time the issue appears on state ballots—including in conservative Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and Ohio.
As many as 10 states could have abortion rights measures on the ballot in this November's election, which at the top of the ticket pits reproductive freedom champion and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris against former Republican President Donald Trump, who has boasted about appointing three right-wing Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe and who critics fear would sign a national abortion ban if one were passed by Congress.
Trump also said he would allow states to monitor people's pregnancies and prosecute anyone who violates an abortion ban.
Kemp's office slammed McBurney's ruling.
"Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives have been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge," Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for the governor, said in a statement. "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."
Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court to block Monday's ruling.
"We are prepared to continue fighting this case regardless," the Center for Reproductive Rights vowed on social media, "and we will NOT back down from this fight."
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Big Win for GOP as Judge Approves Georgia's 'Gerrymandered' House Map
"Federal law requires an end to vote dilution and a real change for injured voters, not reshuffling the same deck," said one plaintiffs' attorney in the case.
Dec 28, 2023
U.S. voting rights defenders on Thursday decried a federal judge's ruling upholding Georgia's GOP-drawn congressional map, which critics argue is racially gerrymandered and, given the state's swing status, could tip the balance of power in Washington in 2024.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—handed Republicans a major win in his ruling, which found that Georgia's General Assembly "fully complied with this court's order requiring the creation of Black-majority districts in the regions of the state where vote dilution was found."
The decision means that Georgia Republicans will likely keep their 9-5 edge in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp convened a special legislative session earlier this month. State lawmakers redrew the 7th Congressional District, imperiling Democrat Lucy McBath's reelection prospects, while redrawing the 6th Congressional District to make it majority Black to comply with the court's order.
McBath responded to the ruling by announcing she would seek election in the 6th District next year.
"A court just ruled in favor of GOP maps that blatantly target me. But I'm not going anywhere," McBath said on social media. "I refuse to allow an extremist few decide when my work in Congress is complete."
State Rep. Jasmine Clark (D-108) accused the GOP-led Legislature of breaking up one minority-dominant district to create another, which she said violates the Voting Rights Act. Clark added that the new map "blatantly targets" McBath.
While Republicans welcomed Jones' ruling, voting rights advocates condemned the decision—and the new map, claiming it would perpetuate minority voter suppression.
"Federal law requires an end to vote dilution and a real change for injured voters, not reshuffling the same deck," said Ari Savitzky, a senior attorney at the ACLU of Georgia—which represented plaintiffs in the case. "We will continue to hold the General Assembly accountable until Georgia voters get the maps they deserve."
Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP, told Reuters that the new map is "racially gerrymandered."
"All of Georgia has now been diluted of our voices," he added. "We respectfully disagree and look forward to further litigation on this issue."
Aunna Dennis, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Common Cause Georgia, said in a statement that "the new maps—drawn unfairly and without transparency—failed to fairly represent Black voters, as ordered by the court."
"Throughout this session, state legislators shuffled our communities to weaken our voices," Dennis added. "Every voter in Georgia deserves to have fair representation in the state Legislature and Congress, and that is why we urge Gov. Kemp to send the Legislature back to the drawing board to design fair maps."
Jones' ruling follows a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision last week that found state Legislature maps rigged by Republican lawmakers unconstitutional. Federal and state courts this year have also struck down gerrymandered maps in Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana.
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Georgia Medicaid Debacle Bolsters Progressive Case Against Work Requirements
"While state politicians continue playing games with people's lives, Georgians are dying because they can't afford the healthcare they need," said Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Dec 26, 2023
An effort by the Republican-led Georgia government to partially expand Medicaid is falling well short of enrollment expectations, a failure that could stem from the program's burdensome work requirements and other administrative barriers that are abundant in a for-profit system that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all as a right.
Politico reported Tuesday that just 1,800 people enrolled during the program's first four months—leaving the state on pace to miss Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's target of 31,000 enrollees within the first year.
"Critics blame the paltry expansion on an overly complex program with too many hurdles for people to clear," the outlet noted.
Brendan Duke, senior director for economic policy at the Center for American Progress, wrote in response to Politico's reporting that "a large part of progressive opposition to work requirements in safety net programs isn’t principle—it's about the paperwork that prevents working people from enrolling in programs they qualify for."
"Great example with Georgia and Medicaid here," Duke added. "Work requirement supporters will ask, 'Why do you oppose work reqs if the vast majority of people would still qualify?' Some of the problem is you're denying support to people who can't find a job. But some of it is you're functionally denying support to people with a job!"
As Georgia began rolling out its Pathways to Coverage program earlier this year following a legal fight with the Biden administration, researchers at Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families (CCF) argued that the state's insistence on a work requirement would likely box many people out, including workers with irregular hours and parents who lack access to childcare.
The work requirements in Georgia's program do not include an exemption for caregiving or high childcare costs, the CCF experts noted. As such, they warned, "many parents will likely remain uninsured under the Pathways program especially parents of babies and toddlers who are preschool age."
Georgia, which has one of the highest uninsured rates in the U.S., is currently the only state with a Medicaid work requirement in effect—though it's not the first to ever implement one.
In 2018, with the approval of the Trump administration, Arkansas put in place work mandates for Medicaid with disastrous results. Before the policy was blocked in federal court, more than 18,000 people in the state were thrown off Medicaid in just seven months for failing to adhere to the requirements.
The Arkansas policy did not boost employment, an outcome consistent with research showing that work requirements are only effective at stripping people of benefits.
"Pathways to Coverage has cost Georgia more money and covers far fewer people than if the state simply joined 40 other states in expanding Medicaid."
In 2021, the Biden administration rescinded Trump-approved waivers that had allowed Georgia and other states to add work requirements to their Medicaid programs. Georgia challenged the decision in court and prevailed last year, thanks to its argument that the experiment would lead to more people receiving coverage than if the program were blocked.
Kemp has suggested that around 345,000 Georgians could be eligible for the expanded Medicaid program, but the state expects that just around 64,000 will eventually enroll in the program.
That's just 14% of the people who would be covered if Georgia joined nearly every other U.S. state in fully expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, CCF researchers estimated earlier this year.
In addition to covering fewer people than full Medicaid expansion, Georgia's experiment is also expected to cost the state far more.
Leah Chan, senior health analyst at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, told a local Georgia newspaper earlier this year that Pathways to Coverage will cost roughly $2,420 per enrollee. Full Medicaid expansion, by contrast, would run the state just $496 per enrollee, as the federal government pays much of the cost.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) told Politico that "Pathways to Coverage has cost Georgia more money and covers far fewer people than if the state simply joined 40 other states in expanding Medicaid."
"While state politicians continue playing games with people's lives," he added, "Georgians are dying because they can't afford the healthcare they need."
Heightened scrutiny of Georgia's Medicaid experiment comes as states across the U.S. are rapidly conducting eligibility checks and kicking people off Medicaid en masse following the end of pandemic-era protections. Georgia is one of nine Republican-led states that collectively account for 60% of Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program disenrollments this year.
An overwhelming majority of the disenrollments nationwide have been for procedural reasons, such as a paperwork error.
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Advocates Demand Removal of Georgia State Republican Named in Election Indictment
"Senator Still, along with others, allegedly signed documents approving electoral votes for former President Trump despite having no authority to serve as qualified electors."
Aug 17, 2023
A coalition of voting rights groups demanded Thursday that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Christopher Carr begin the process of removing freshman state Sen. Shawn Still, who was named alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others in a criminal indictment handed down earlier this week by a Fulton County grand jury.
Still (R-48) faces seven charges under the indictment, including a violation of Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, impersonating a public officer, and forgery.
In a letter to Kemp and Carr, advocates from All Voting Is Local Action, Fair Fight Action, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, and Represent GA Action Network urged the two officials to "move forward with the constitutional authority bestowed on your office to convene a review commission to remove Senator Still from office."
"Senator Still, along with others, allegedly signed documents approving electoral votes for former President Trump despite having no authority to serve as qualified electors," the letter reads. "The allegations raise serious concerns about Sen. Still's ability to fulfill his duties in a manner that upholds the values and principles an elected official must abide by. The charges also prohibit Senator Still from upholding his duties of office. The senator's alleged actions represent an alarming breach of trust and duty with the communities he serves in the legislature."
"While we recognize the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the pending criminal charges are extremely serious."
Georgia's constitution states that when a lawmaker is indicted, the governor "shall…appoint a review commission" to determine whether "the indictment relates to and adversely affects the administration of the office of the indicted public official and that the rights and interests of the public are adversely affected thereby."
If the commission makes such a determination, the governor "shall suspend the public official immediately and without further action pending the final disposition of the case or until the expiration of the officer's term of office, whichever occurs first," the constitution states.
The voting rights groups argued in their letter that the "grave allegations" in the Fulton County indictment "make clear Senator Still's alleged activities prohibit him from carrying out his duties of office."
"We are calling on you to convene the review commission within 14 days of the indictment," the groups wrote. "While we recognize the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the pending criminal charges are extremely serious. We firmly believe that it is in the best interest of the state of Georgia for Sen. Still to be removed."
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'Behavior of a Fascist Police State': Legal Aid Organizers Arrested After Backing Cop City Protesters
"Bailing out protestors who exercise their constitutionally protected rights is simply not a crime," said one civil rights defender.
Jun 01, 2023
Rights advocates warned Wednesday that the arrests of three board members of an Atlanta-based bail fund could mark the beginning of a new era in the United States' treatment of peaceful protesters—one in which both demonstrators and those who support them are targeted by law enforcement.
Under the direction of the Republican state attorney general, Christopher Carr, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department carried out the arrests of Marlon Scott Kautz, Savannah Patterson, and Adele Maclean of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF).
The group offers financial support to people who have been arrested for protesting, including the dozens of people who have been detained for resisting the development of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known by critics as Cop City—a $90 million police training facility that would take up 85 acres of publicly-owned forest.
The three board members were charged with money laundering and charity fraud, leading state Rep. Saira Draper (D-90) to question the state's use of SWAT teams and helicopters to conduct the raid in a residential neighborhood.
"Peaceful protest is as American as apple pie," said Draper. "Using heavy handed tactics to suppress peaceful protest is shameful."
Writer and historian William Horne denounced the arrests as "the behavior of a fascist police state."
Lauren Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, told The Intercept on Wednesday that the ASF is "the first bail fund to be attacked in this way." The funds have been used for at least a century to pool together communities' financial resources to help bail people, including civil rights protesters, out of jail.
"There is absolutely not a scintilla of fact or evidence that anything illegal has ever transpired with regard to Atlanta fundraising for bail support," Regan said.
She added in a press statement that "bailing out protestors who exercise their constitutionally protected rights is simply not a crime."
"In fact, it is a historically grounded tradition in the very same social and political movements that the city of Atlanta prides itself on," she said. "Someone had to bail out civil rights activists in the 60's—I think we can all agree that community support isn't a crime."
Plans for Cop City garnered national attention earlier this year after Georgia state troopers killed a forest defender named Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, also known as Tortuguita, shooting him nearly 60 times.
Since Tortuguita's killing, nearly 30 people have been charged with domestic terrorism for allegedly damaging property and trespassing while protesting Cop City.
More than 40 people in all are facing domestic terrorism charges, and three people charged with felonies have been placed in solitary confinement.
Civil rights attorney Alec Karakatsanis called the use of a "heavily militarized" police force to arrest three campaigners for alleged financial crimes "a bone-chilling development" that could have implications for the future of protesting in the United States.
Karakatsanis added that "everyone should be scared by" a statement made by Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, who said arrests were "a reminder that we will track down every member of a criminal organization, from violent foot soldiers to uncaring leaders."
"When three community organizers who help to run a bail fund are arrested with an entire SWAT team on clearly bogus financial charges, it signals that not only is it illegal to protest, it's also illegal to try and support people who have been criminalized for protesting," Hannah Riley, a writer and organizer, told HuffPost. "If bail funds aren't safe, what's next?"
State Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-97) noted that the targeting of the ASF comes as people in the U.S. are increasingly relying on mutual aid to access reproductive care.
"Are we going to see attacks on abortion funds," she said to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "on bail funds, other types of funds that provide resources for those attempting to navigate our increasingly expensive and complicated legal system?"
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1,300+ US Groups Demand Atlanta Mayor's Resignation Over Forest Defender Tortuguita's Killing
"It is imperative that we demand an independent investigation into the police murder of Manuel 'Tortuguita' Paez Terán," said one group. "We join calls for the termination of the lease and for Mayor Dickens' resignation."
Jan 30, 2023
A coalition of more than 1,300 climate and racial justice groups from across the United States on Monday joined a call for an independent investigation into the police killing of forest defender Manuel Paez Terán earlier this month, and demanded the resignation of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
Nearly two weeks after the fatal shooting of the 26-year-old activist and medic—known as Tortuguita—Dickens "has still failed to condemn the killing," said the groups, and has instead opted "to condemn protestors and parrot the rhetoric of extreme right-wing governor Brian Kemp."
Tortuguita was shot and killed on January 18 when a joint task force including Atlanta police officers raided an encampment at Weelaunee forest. The forest is the site of a proposed $90 million police training facility known as Cop City.
"His championing of Cop City occurs against the backdrop of a continued investment in the gentrification of Atlanta and a continued disinvestment of affordable housing for a city identified as having the country's highest level of wealth inequality."
Over the weekend Dickens, a Democrat, condemned people who have protested Tortuguita's killing in Atlanta, accusing protesters of traveling to the city to "wreak havoc" at demonstrations that were overwhelmingly peaceful.
"Within a few hours of the shooting, Dickens tweeted support for [an] injured state trooper and completely ignored the death at the hands of a task force which included Atlanta police officers on his watch," wrote the groups, which include People vs. Fossil Fuels, Jewish Voice for Peace, Climate Justice Alliance, and Oil Change International. "As a growing number of Atlanta residents, national and global news outlets, and human rights and environmental organizations worldwide call for an investigation of the police narrative of Tortuguita's death, Dickens has dismissed their concerns. He has refused to bring any scrutiny to the one-sided and unsubstantiated recounting of events. Dickens has yet to offer condolences to the slain protestor's family."
The groups noted that Dickens and the Atlanta City Council have the authority to terminate the land lease for Cop City in the forest and called for the mayor to do so immediately, denouncing his strong support for the Atlanta Police Foundation's proposal.
"His championing of Cop City occurs against the backdrop of a continued investment in the gentrification of Atlanta and a continued disinvestment of affordable housing for a city identified as having the country's highest level of wealth inequality," said the groups. "Mayor Dickens can somehow find $90 million dollars for Cop City, one third of which will come from taxpayer money. Still, he can't find money to keep our already overwhelmed hospitals open or to finance much-needed affordable housing."
Ikiya Collective, a signatory of the letter, noted that the training slated to take place at Cop City "will impact organizing across the country" as police are trained to respond to popular uprisings.
"This is a national issue," said the collective. "Climate justice and police brutality are interconnected, which is why we are joining the Stop Cop City calls to action with the frontline communities in Atlanta."
"It is imperative that we demand an independent investigation into the police murder of Manuel 'Tortuguita' Paez Terán," said Ikiya Collective. "We join calls for the termination of the lease and for Mayor Dickens' resignation."
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Georgia's GOP Gov. Signs Order to Prep National Guard for Police Brutality Protests
While the move comes after law enforcement in Georgia killed a "Cop City" protester, one official said it is a "purely precautionary" measure before the anticipated release of video footage from an arrest in Tennessee.
Jan 26, 2023
Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency through at least February 9 that will enable him to deploy up to 1,000 National Guard troops "as necessary."
The order follows protests in Atlanta after 26-year-old forest defender Manuel "Tortuguita" Teran was shot dead last week during a multi-agency raid on an encampment to oppose construction of Cop City, a nearby law enforcement training center. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), which is investigating the case, has said Teran was killed after he shot and wounded a state trooper.
While the order begins by stating that "protests turned violent in downtown Atlanta" last Saturday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Kemp's aides signaled that the move was not about the Cop City demonstrations but rather in anticipation of any potential response to video footage from Memphis, Tennessee showing the arrest of Black motorist Tyre Nichols.
As Common Dreams reported earlier Thursday, five fired Memphis cops were charged with second-degree murder and other crimes related to Nichols' death. Footage of the 29-year-old's arrest is expected to be released sometime after 6:00 pm local time on Friday.
"We understand the executive order is purely precautionary based on possible unrest following the release of the videos from Memphis," an official in Georgia with direct knowledge of the situation told the AJC. "There are no immediate intentions to deploy the guard."
The Atlanta Police Department also mentioned the Memphis case in a statement Thursday:
We are closely monitoring the events in Memphis and are prepared to support peaceful protests in our city. We understand and share in the outrage surrounding the death of Tyre Nichols. Police officers are expected to conduct themselves in a compassionate, competent, and constitutional manner and these officers failed Tyre, their communities, and their profession. We ask that demonstrations be safe and peaceful.
In a series of tweets Thursday, the Atlanta Community Press Collective named several people killed by law enforcement in recent years and suggested that Kemp's order is about "trying to instill fear in anyone who stands up against police brutality."
Meanwhile, national groups and progressive lawmakers have echoed local demands for an independent probe in Teran's case.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has highlighted that it is separate from the Georgia State Patrol and said that GBI "is conducting an independent investigation," after which it will "turn the investigative file over to the prosecutor." The agency noted Wednesday that DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston has recused herself from the case so a special prosecutor will be assigned.
Some have pushed back against the "police narrative" that the "corporate media has ran away with" for Teran's case, as forest defender Kamau Franklin told Democracy Now! last week, adding that "we find it less than likely that the police version of events is what really happened."
"And that's why we're calling for an independent investigation, not one that's done by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, not one that's done by any federal authority, but a complete independent investigation," Franklin said, "because that's the only way we're going to know what really happened."
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'Crushing News': Appeals Court Greenlights Georgia's 6-Week Abortion Ban
"This announcement is an affront to our personal rights and goes against the will of the vast majority of Georgians who believe in the bodily autonomy of all in our state."
Jul 20, 2022
Abortion rights defenders on Wednesday were down but determined after a federal appeals court lifted an injunction on Georgia's six-week abortion ban, allowing the draconian law to take immediate effect.
"Patients... waiting for abortion care that was legal just this morning when they arrived now have lost their right to that medical care and control over their own bodies."
Writing for a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge William Pryor said that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling voiding nearly 50 years of constitutional abortion rights "makes clear that no right to abortion exists under the Constitution, so Georgia may prohibit them."
Pryor--a George W. Bush appointee who once called Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law"--added that "it is hard to see any vagueness" in H.B. 481, the 2019 Georgia anti-choice law that "defines a natural person to include unborn humans in the womb at any stage of development."
While Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he was "overjoyed" by the ruling, state Sen. Michelle Au (D-48), who is also a physician, tweeted, "What this means is that in Georgia, patients sitting in a waiting room RIGHT NOW, waiting for abortion care that was legal just this morning when they arrived, now have lost their right to that medical care and control over their own bodies."
"Just like that," she added. "Gone."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
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.
Experts have noted that fetal "heartbeat" laws are inherently flawed, as what's being detected in a six-week-old fetus is little more than cells and electrical activity.
Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked enforcement of Arizona's so-called "personhood" law.
The implementation of Georgia's six-week ban comes as an effort to codify reproductive rights nationwide via the House-approved Women's Health Protection Act has stalled amid opposition from Senate Republicans and right-wing Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Planned Parenthood Southeast vice president of external affairs Amy Kennedy said in a statement that Wednesday's ruling is "an affront to our personal rights and goes against the will of the vast majority of Georgians who believe in the bodily autonomy of all in our state."
"The people have just been robbed of their ability to make the decisions that are best for themselves, their lives, and their futures," Kennedy continued. "No matter what the courts say, people deserve access to abortion--and Planned Parenthood is here to help you get the care you need. We remain committed to helping Georgians access abortion care, and our doors are open for nonjudgmental information, resources, and financial and logistical support."
The ACLU called the appellate court's move "unprecedented."
"The court took this action without request from the state and outside of normal court procedures," the group tweeted. "Many people don't even know they're pregnant at six weeks. People in Georgia--and people everywhere--deserve access to abortion care without delay or interference."
"We'll continue using every tool we have to fight for abortion access in Georgia," ACLU vowed. "No one should be forced to carry a pregnancy against their will."
Planned Parenthood Federation of America affirmed: "We're here with you, Georgia. We will do everything in our power to ensure all patients... have access to the essential care they deserve. If you need an abortion, call 1-800-230-PLAN or visit https://AbortionFinder.org."
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