The Georgia Supreme Court on Nov. 23 reinstated the state’s ban on abortions after six weeks into a pregnancy. The move temporarily ends access to later abortions ruled by a state judge a week ago.
“The state of Georgia’s emergency petition [...] seeking a stay of the order of the superior court of Fulton county in the above-styled action is hereby granted,” the order said. “To the extent the state also seeks an ‘administrative stay,’ that motion is dismissed as moot.”
The court didn’t address the reason for granting the state’s request.
The state’s ban prohibits most abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” is present.
Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will eventually become the heart around six weeks into a pregnancy. That means most abortions in Georgia are effectively banned at a point before many people know they are pregnant.
McBurney ordered authorities last week to stop enforcing the statewide measure. In his ruling, the judge said the timing made the law immediately invalid, and to enact the law, the state legislature would have to pass it again.
Georgia attorney general’s office in a filing with the state Supreme Court blasted McBurney’s reasoning as having “no basis in law, precedent, or common sense,” and appealed to ask the Georgia Supreme Court to put the decision on hold while the appeal moved forward.
The state Supreme Court did not conduct a hearing before issuing its order, and plaintiffs’ attorneys said it denied their request for 24 hours notice.
The high court’s order said seven of the nine justices agreed with the decision. It said one was disqualified and another did not participate.
Alice Wang, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights, which also represents plaintiffs in the case, said the latest court order is “outrageous,” adding that “This legal ping pong is causing chaos for medical providers trying to do their jobs and for patients who are now left frantically searching for the abortion services they need.”
Some abortion providers had said that although abortions past six weeks were once resumed, they were proceeding cautiously over concerns the ban could be quickly reinstated.
Currently, a dozen states, including Georgia, have either fully or partially outlawed abortion in the wake of the Roe abolition, yet half of the states temporarily halted the bans in subsequent court rulings.
