A Fulton County judge overturned Georgia’s six-week abortion ban Sept. 30, calling it an unconstitutional violation of a woman’s right to “liberty and privacy” and the control of her body.
“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,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney wrote in his decision. “An arbitrary six-week ban on post-embryonic cardiac activity pregnancy terminations is inconsistent with these rights and the proper balance that a viability rule establishes between a woman’s rights of liberty and privacy and society’s interest in protecting and caring for unborn infants.”
The state’s attorney general signaled his office will be appealing the ruling.
Meanwhile, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) was among those denouncing the decision.
“The ruling from the Georgia court striking down the state’s pro-life law is deeply disappointing and contrary to the Georgia Supreme Court’s previous decision,” said Hannah Daniel, ERLC director of public policy. “The rationale that a life is only worthy of protection when society can assume care and responsibility for it is illogical and assigns an arbitrary designation void of any Biblical or biological understanding of the value of life.”
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America State Policy Director Katie Glenn Daniel told The Washington Stand: “This new ruling denies the humanity of unborn children with beating hearts and would legalize late-term abortion in Georgia,” which she noted “is wildly out of step with voters.” According to Daniel, this is yet another example of “an activist judge [overriding] the voters’ elected representatives to impose his desired outcome.”
McBurney’s ruling came after the Georgia Supreme Court upheld Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act (LIFE Act) in the 2022 case of Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective v. State of Georgia. But in its 2023 ruling, the State Supreme Court returned a portion of the case to the lower court to determine whether Georgia’s constitution protects a right to privacy and whether that right includes abortion.
“The more elusive and amorphous right to privacy has ‘a long and distinguished history’ in our State, but it is a history based on judicial interpretation and application of the constitutional right to liberty, rather than on some explicit constitutional language about privacy,” McBurney wrote, referencing the 1998 case of Powell v. State. “Regardless of its indirect constitutional provenance, in Georgia, ‘privacy is considered a fundamental constitutional right.’”
McBurney’s ruling overlooks the fundamental right to life, Daniel said.
“The judge’s conflation of liberty with the right to an abortion completely dismisses another fundamental principle: the right to life,” Daniel told Baptist Press. “The Dobbs decision allowed states like Georgia to enact these life-saving laws consistent with the view that preborn life is valuable and worthy of protection. Though this decision is a setback, we are committed to coming alongside our state partners to advocate for a culture of life and restore these vital protections for precious preborn lives.”
Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, shared with The Washington Stand that the LIFE Act proved that “legislators in the state of Georgia chose to protect unborn babies after their hearts beat.” Yet, “In a sweeping act,” it was this judge that “decided they cannot do so.”
“What a sad day for the people of Georgia,” Szoch lamented. “It’s hard to fathom the mental gymnastics that someone has to do to conclude that stopping another’s heartbeat is about control of a woman’s own body.” However, as “this judge was previously reversed by the Georgia Supreme Court,” Daniel emphasized, he “should be reversed again.” Until then, this case can serve as an example of “the consequences of judicial activism and pro-abortion misinformation,” which “are dangerous for women and deadly for unborn babies.”
Republican Attorney General Chris Carr has already indicated he will appeal McBurney’s ruling directly to the Georgia Supreme Court.
“We believe Georgia’s LIFE Act is fully constitutional, and we will immediately appeal the lower court’s decision,” Carr spokeswoman Kara Murray told the New York Times.
Abortions are now allowed as late as 22 weeks in Georgia, the cutoff that was in place before the LIFE Act, passed in 2019, became effective after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
