A Georgia judge has nullified the state’s six-week abortion ban, claiming that it was “arbitrary” and infringed on women’s rights. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that Georgia’s concept of “liberty” encompasses aborting babies without unwarranted state interference. However, McBurney conceded that this right is not without boundaries, stating society can intervene when an unborn child reaches “viability.”
Following the ruling, abortions—for the time being—are now permitted up to the point of viability, generally around 22 weeks of pregnancy. Previously, the ban made abortions illegal after the detection of a heartbeat, usually at six weeks.
Georgia’s six-week abortion ban had already been nullified once before in November 2022, not long after it came into effect in July of the same year. An appeal by the state Attorney General’s office to Georgia’s Supreme Court resulted in the case being remanded to Fulton County.
Before the latest court ruling, misleading news reports had attributed two women’s deaths to the six-week abortion ban. In one instance, a woman who took abortion pills developed an infection due to the incomplete expulsion of her deceased unborn twins. Despite a medical intervention, she succumbed to the infection. Some media outlets inaccurately claimed the abortion ban caused her death, misrepresenting the legality of D&Cs (dilation and curettage) under the law.
In a separate case, another woman also took abortion pills but did not expel her baby entirely. She subsequently took a fatal dose of painkillers, including fentanyl, and died. Her family claims she did not seek medical care due to misconceptions about the abortion law, even though treatment would have been legally permissible.
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