Breaking: Georgia Abortion Ban Repealed!
Judge rules that 6-week ban cannot be enforced
A Georgia judge has struck down the state’s 6-week abortion ban! In an absolutely epic ruling, Fulton county Judge Robert McBurney didn’t just repeal the law—but eviscerated it as forcing women to be “human incubators.”
“Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have.
…It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid’s Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could–or should–force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another.”
I mean, wow. (McBurney even added in a footnote, that “it is generally men who promote and defend laws like the LIFE Act.”)
The ruling comes just weeks after ProPublica’s investigation into the deaths of two women killed by Georgia’s abortion ban, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, and means that abortion is now legal in up until approximately 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Monica Simpson, executive director, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective called the decision ”a significant step in the right direction towards achieving Reproductive Justice in Georgia,” but noted the deaths of Miller and Thurman, saying that “every day the ban has been in place has been a day too long.” And Kwajelyn Jackson, executive director of Feminist Women’s Health Center, said that while she’s “cautiously encouraged,” Georgians were facing barriers to care even before the trigger ban went into effect in 2022.
Abortion, Every Day will have more for you about the ruling and the law in the coming days. Especially given that the Georgia Supreme Court election has become very much about abortion rights.
In the meantime, congratulations, Georgia!
Oh my god the WORDS he USED!! Where are more judges like this?????
My favorite part - and a theme I've been harping on again and again. NO ONE should be forced donors: "It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid’s Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could–or should–force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another.”