Republican-Appointed Judge Strikes Down Georgia Abortion Law

A Georgia judge declared Monday that the state’s abortion law, which restricted the procedure in the first six weeks of pregnancy, is unconstitutional.
The order from Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney, who was appointed in 2012 by former Republican Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, reinstates Georgia’s abortion restrictions prior to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, which allows the procedure up until 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Georgia passed the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act in 2019, which prohibited physicians from performing an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy with some exceptions. The law was struck down by a federal district court in 2020 but was allowed to take effect after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed federal protections for abortion in June 2022.
On Monday, McBurney wrote in part that his review of the “interpretations of ‘liberty'” under the state and federal Supreme Courts “demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.”
“That power is not, however, unlimited,” the judge continued. “When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then—and only then—may society intervene.”
McBurney had previously ruled against the LIFE Act in November 2022 following a lawsuit filed by the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. At the time, the judge wrote that because the law was unconstitutional when it was passed in 2019, it was never valid.
Georiga’s Supreme Court overturned McBurney’s decision last year, allowing the law to remain in effect while the lower courts ruled on other merits of the plaintiff’s complaint.
A spokesperson for Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, condemned McBurney’s decision in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Monday.
“Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives has been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge,” said Kemp spokesperson Garrison Douglas. “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.”
The issue of abortion is once again in the spotlight heading into November’s presidential election, particularly in swing states like Georgia, where Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has campaigned on how the state’s abortion restrictions have caused harm to women.
Harris has highlighted stories like the death of 28-year-old Amber Nicole Thurman, who died in August 2022 after experiencing a rare complication after taking abortion pills. According to a recent report from ProPublica, Georgia’s maternal mortality review committee concluded that there was a “good chance” that Thurman’s death could have been prevented, although the physicians who treated Thurman were restricted by the state’s abortion laws.
The same state review committee also concluded that the death of 41-year-old Candi Miller, who died in November 2022 due to complications from taking an abortion pill, was also linked to Georgia’s restrictive abortion laws.
“This is exactly what we feared when Roe was struck down,” Harris said in a statement following ProPublica’s reporting. “These are the consequences of [former President] Donald Trump’s actions.”
In a statement shared with Newsweek, Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju celebrated McBurney’s ruling on Monday while highlighting Thurman and Miller’s deaths.
“This decision is a crucial victory for reproductive freedom,” Timmaragju said. “Georgia’s ban is one of the most extreme in the country, and it caused the senseless and preventable deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller.”
“While we are happy to see this ban blocked, our work isn’t over,” she continued. “It’s essential that we elect Kamala Harris to restore federal protections for abortion nationwide so that bans like Georgia’s never have the chance to harm our communities again.”
Trump, who is running for a second term this November, has taken credit for the overturn of Roe v. Wade—The former president appointed three of the six-justice conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court during his first term in the White House.
Trump has said that he believes a six-week abortion ban is far too early but says that laws regarding the procedure should ultimately be decided at the state level. Issues like abortion restrictions, however, have led women voters to stray away from the former president ahead of November. Trump has also often repeated false claims that Democrats want abortion without limitations, including “post-birth abortions.”
Update 09/30/24, 5:01 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and comment from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.