Today, a Fulton County Superior Judge enjoined the two sections of Georgia’s Heartbeat Bill dealing with abortion restrictions. He said that those portions of the law never actually became law because they were unconstitutional at the time they were signed into law – before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. As such, he ruled that Georgia cannot enforce those sections of the law. Abortions will now temporarily be legal in Georgia until 22 weeks.
It’s important that you don’t listen to the pro-abortion media about this. Our Heartbeat Bill was not overturned. It was partially enjoined – meaning that the remainder of the law remains in effect.
This means that the sections of the law recognizing personhood for preborn babies, providing a dependent tax exemption for preborn babies, allowing women to seek child support for a preborn baby, and requiring an abortion doctor to tell a pregnant woman that her baby has a heartbeat prior to abortion all remain in effect.
Pro-life Attorney General Chris Carr, who won a resounding statewide re-election last Tuesday over his pro-abortion opponent, has already appealed this decision to the Georgia Appeals Court. We expect this process to further delay the implementation of the Heartbeat Bill, but we believe it will ultimately be upheld.
That being said, the Judge’s decision today is actually a massive victory for the pro-life cause. Because he refused to enjoin the critical provisions of our law that recognize personhood for babies in the womb.
Not only does this affirm the legal foundation for the Heartbeat Bill, it means that the personhood portions of the law will fall outside the scope of appeal. Georgia remains the first and only state to grant personhood status to babies at the moment of fertilization.
When GLA’s team wrote the Heartbeat Bill in 2016, it was written with the intent to go into law. Today’s ruling only enjoins the abortion restriction portions of the law on technicality – that they were signed into law while Roe was still in effect. This is a massive affirmation to the legal soundness of Georgia’s Heartbeat Bill and the tireless efforts of our statewide coalition who lobbied the bill, our courageous pro-life lawmakers, and Governor Kemp.
This minor setback is only temporary, and we have seen the monumental impact the Heartbeat Bill has already had in Georgia – with abortions plummeting 57% in Georgia this summer. We are well on our way to seeing abortion abolished entirely within our borders.
Continue to pray for the legal team defending the Heartbeat Bill in court, for the Appellate Judges who will inevitably hear this case next, the pregnancy help centers who will continue serving women in need around our state, and for the thousands of women who will continue to be victimized by the profit-hungry abortion industry until we see this law enacted.
In the meantime, we will keep building a culture of life and never waver from doing good.
Together for life,
Elizabeth Edmonds
Leadership Director