Reproductive Rights Groups Sue Georgia Over Anti-Abortion Law

The groups are seeking to block the six-week abortion ban from going into effect.

Demonstrators dressed as characters from "The Handmaid's Tale" protest outside Georgia's Capitol, where Gov. Brian Kemp was to sign anti-abortion legislation on May 7.Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Lawyers from the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit Friday against the state of Georgia to block an anti-abortion law passed earlier this year.

The law bans abortion after the six-week mark, which is often before someone would be aware of a pregnancy, and is scheduled to go into effect on January 1.

Georgia is one of nine states—along with Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Utah, and Arkansas—that have passed strict limits on abortions within the past year.

“None of these laws are in effect, and we are fighting to keep it that way,” said Center for Reproductive Rights CEO Nancy Northup in a statement. “For nearly half a century, the Supreme Court has protected the right to abortion, and we know the majority of Americans continue to support abortion access.”

The lawsuit alleges that Georgia’s ban on abortion after six weeks is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.

“This legislation is blatantly unconstitutional under nearly 50 years of US Supreme Court precedent,” said Sean J. Young, legal director of the ACLU of Georgia in a statement. “Politicians have no business telling women or a couple when to start or expand a family.

Opponents of the six-week ban also point to the high maternal and infant mortality rates in Georgia to argue that the state should be focused on improving maternal health care rather than limiting abortion access. In 2010, Amnesty International flagged Georgia as the state with the highest maternal mortality rate

“In a state with a critical shortage of medical providers and some of the highest rates of maternal and infant deaths, especially among Black Georgians, politicians should focus on expanding access to reproductive care, not banning abortion before someone even knows they’re pregnant,” said Talcott Camp, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate