ATLANTA — Georgia’s law banning abortion past six weeks of pregnancy is allowed to stand, per a Georgia Supreme Court opinion issued Oct. 24.

The court’s 6-1 ruling is in response to the state’s appeal of a previous ruling from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney that stated the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act (HB 481) was unconstitutional when it was signed in 2019 — before the U.S. Supreme Court decided in June 2022 that the Constitution does not protect abortion rights and Roe v. Wade.

The opinion from the Georgia Supreme Court states that the lower court’s ruling “rests on a faulty premise — that, in Dobbs (the June 2022 Supreme Court decision), the United States Supreme Court changed not only its interpretation of the United States Constitution but also the meaning of the Constitution itself.”

“The United States Constitution, not the United States Supreme Court, is the source of the Constitution’s meaning; the United States Supreme Court has no power to amend the Constitution through interpretation; and the text of the United States Constitution has not been amended,” the Oct. 24 option states.

Before HB 481, abortions was allowed up to 20 weeks.

The new law bans abortions once a fetal “heartbeat” is detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they’re pregnant. The Georgia law provides exceptions for medical emergencies, up to 20 weeks for rape and incest, if a police report is filed. Physicians who perform abortions outside of the law could face criminal prosecution.

The Republican-backed abortion law passed along party lines in the Georgia legislature in 2019.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said he agreed with the Court’s decision to uphold the LIFE Act.

“We will continue to ensure women make informed decisions about their health care with their family, doctors and spiritual leaders along with increasing access to health care services and options like adoption,” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America released a statement congratulating Republican leaders and their allies.

“Today’s Georgia Supreme Court decision ensures that tens of thousands of children with beating hearts will continue to be protected from brutal abortions. It is the latest vindication of the will of Georgians, who have compassion for both babies and mothers, along with lawmakers like Gov. Kemp and many others who heard them and acted,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

Many Democrats spoke out against the Court’s ruling, referencing potential harm to women’s health.

“We remember the day that this measure narrowly passed by one vote and during the past 3.5 years of legal action, we have continued to learn that 1 in 3 women will have an abortion,” state Rep. Park Cannon said. “Today, family choice and bodily autonomy for all Georgians have been ignored. Still, we remain confident that providers will respect their Hippocratic oath to ‘do no harm’ when presented with clients in need while we continue to fight for legislative remedy.”

In a statement following the ruling, the Georgia House Democratic Caucus said the decision comes at a challenging time for Georgians after Forbes Advisor recently ranked the state’s health care system as the worst in the country.

The House Democratic Caucus also referenced the state’s lack of Medicaid expansion despite the state’s $11 billion in surplus, and noted that half the counties in Georgia do not have an OBGYN and the maternal mortality rate in the state is among the worst in the nation.

“The abortion ban has already caused so much fear and suffering. Fear that an ectopic pregnancy will cost a woman her life. Suffering from being forced to carry a baby to term that the mother knows will die … it is unacceptable that this law strips a generation of Georgia’s women of rights their mothers held.”

ACLU, one of the parties to the lawsuit attempting to stop the abortion ban, plans to continue fighting the ban in courts.

The lower court has not yet ruled on other arguments against the abortion law, including whether the law violates Georgia residents’ rights to privacy.

As of last year, Georgia has allowed tax deductions and child support for unborn fetuses.

According to the Georgia Department of Revenue, at any time on or after July 20, 2022, and through Dec. 31, 2022, a taxpayer with an unborn child (or children) with a detectable human heartbeat (which may occur as early as six weeks’ gestation), can claim a dependent personal exemption for $3,000 for each unborn child.

A brief timeline of the Georgia abortion law:

• After the law was signed in 2019, lawsuits were filed by abortion rights groups in the state challenging the constitutionality of the law.
• In 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled the LIFE Act was in conflict with then-binding U.S. Supreme Court precedent and enjoined the law from being enforced.
• When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does protect abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the lower court allowed the Georgia law to take affect.
• A coalition of Georgia-based physicians, reproductive health centers, and groups filed a lawsuit claiming several sections of the LIFE Act should be void because it was unconstitional at the time it was passed.
• Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, in a Nov. 15 ruling, sided with the groups in the lawsuit McBurney said at that time the LIFE Act was signed in 2019, it was unconstitutional for governments — federal, state, or local — to ban abortions before viability. He also ruled that a section of the law mandating that any physician who performs an abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat must report to the Department of Public Health the exception to the ban imposed was also unconstitutional at the time HB 481 was signed into law. The ruling allowed abortions after six weeks to be legal.
• The state, however, filed an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, who decided to let the law remain in effect until they decided on the case.
• The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments March 28 in the state’s case to appeal McBurney’s ruling.