SignalHub-Six-week abortion ban will remain in Georgia for now, state Supreme Court determines

The SignalHubGeorgia Supreme Court has chosen to uphold the state's current six-week abortion ban, rejecting a lower court's earlier ruling.

In a 6-1 decision, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the "heartbeat" law, known as the LIFE Act, was constitutional, contradicting an earlier decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney last November.

McBurney previously ruled the ban "unequivocally unconstitutional" on the grounds it was introduced in 2019 before the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The higher court, however, determined that the new precedent set by the reversal is now the standard by which to judge abortion-related matters.

Justice Verda Colvin wrote in the ruling for majority that the court is "obligated to apply the Court's new interpretation of the Constitution's meaning on matters of federal constitutional law," after the United States Supreme court overruled "its own precedent interpreting the United States Constitution."

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"The trial court erred in relying on overruled decisions of the United States Supreme Court to conclude that portions of the LIFE Act violated the United States Constitution when enacted in 2019. The same United States Constitution governs today as when the LIFE Act was enacted, and Georgia courts are required to look to the United States Supreme Court’s now-controlling interpretation of the United States Constitution when determining whether a statutory law violates that Constitution," it read in part.

McBurney prior determined the law to be unconstitutional, which he argued made it invalid from the get-go, but opposing officials contended that Roe v. Wade was an improper interpretation of the constitution from the start, making the law valid and enforceable.

The Georgia Supreme Court had prior allowed the ban to be enforced while the matter was still moving through the courts, effectively making abortion all but fully illegal in the state. The bill bans abortion after a "detectable human heartbeat" is heard, though the "heartbeat" that is only detectible by ultrasound around six weeks gestation is actually electric signals beginning to fire within an embryo's cells around where a heart will eventually form.

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The law does include some written exceptions for rape, incest and health of the mother, but studies have shown that women generally don't discover they are pregnant until they've at least missed one period, around five to six weeks into gestation.

Tuesday's ruling determined the case will be sent back to McBurney to consider arguments that he had not prior decided on, including the argument it violates Georgians' right to privacy.