A Superior Court judge has ruled that there is no need to delay the upcoming trial over the state’s heartbeat abortion law. The law says it is illegal to have an abortion or to provide one after six weeks of pregnancy in most cases.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp originally signed H.B. 481 into law in 2019. The ACLU challenged it almost immediately and won. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and returned decisions on the legality of abortions back to the states. In early August, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law was constitutional and ordered a lower court to reinstate it.

Georgia abortion providers and advocates then filed a lawsuit challenging the ban in Fulton County Superior Court, arguing the ban was void from the start because it violates federal constitutional precedent and because of Georgia’s right-to-privacy laws.

WSB/GNN