Georgia high court considers whether abortion law is void
Georgia’s highest court is considering whether the state’s restrictive abortion law is void because it violated U.S. Supreme Court precedent that was in effect at the time when it was enacted
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's highest court is considering whether the state's restrictive abortion law is void because it violated U.S. Supreme Court precedent that was in effect at the time when it was enacted.
A lower court judge last year ruled that the law enacted in 2019 was not valid because it was it was “unequivocally unconstitutional” at the time for governments to ban abortions before viability based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Roe v. Wade and another ruling. Therefore, he wrote, the measure did not become law when it was enacted and could not be law even after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that precedent last year.
His ruling came in a lawsuit filed by American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Georgia doctors and advocacy groups that challenged the law.
During oral arguments Tuesday before the Georgia Supreme Court on the state of Georgia's appeal challenging the lower court ruling, state solicitor-general Stephen Petrany noted that the U.S. Supreme Court last year ruled that Roe v. Wade was an incorrect interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
