The Georgia Supreme Court Supports the Life Act
On Tuesday, October 24, 2023, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled to uphold Georgia’s Living Infants Fairness and Equality (Life) Act in the matter of the State of Georgia vs. SisterSong. The Life Act, known as H.B. 481, bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The Georgia Supreme Court concluded that the trial court cannot rely on since-overruled United States Supreme Court decisions, such as Roe v. Wade, when determining that the Life Act was “null from the beginning.” The Court reasoned that Georgia courts are bound to apply ‘now-controlling’ U.S. Supreme Court precedent when interpreting the United States Constitution.
The Impact of the Life Act
After the U.S. Supreme Court takes away the right to abortion, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals lifts the federal district court’s injunction against H.B. 481, Georgia’s six-week abortion ban. The ban goes into effect for the first time since it was passed in 2019. Source: Center for Reproductive Rights SisterLove believes that the Georgia Supreme Court utterly disregarded long-standing precedent demonstrating that if a state or federal law violates the Constitution at the time it is enacted, it is void from the start under the Georgia Constitution. Georgia’s ban was passed in 2019, when Roe was the controlling law. As such, in SisterSong v. State of Georgia, plaintiffs argued that Georgia’s six-week ban was void ab initio— that is, “[n]ull from the beginning.” Ruling in favor of the plaintiff’s would require that a new abortion ban be introduced, and make its way through the legislative process. However, the Georgia Supreme Court has chosen to reverse the trial court’s ruling, in favor of the plaintiffs, and allow the ‘trigger’ six-week ban to stay in effect.
Devastating Consequences for Women in Georgia
The Court’s devastating decision means that Georgians who are already suffering from a lack of adequate reproductive care, will continue to have to travel across state lines at a great expense. Georgians will be forced to carry a pregnancy to term while experiencing health risks, and life-altering consequences of pregnancy and childbirth against their will. The decision will have detrimental effects on women across the state, who are already suffering from state-wide OB/GYN deserts, and an overload of crisis pregnancy centers that notoriously manipulate women into continuing a pregnancy. Georgia has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the country, and Black women in Georgia are dying from maternal mortality at higher rates than any other race or ethnicity. The Georgia Supreme Court’s decision will have detrimental effects on Black women across that state.
A Call to Action for Reproductive Health Care
Now, more than ever, a call to action for adequate reproductive health care is not imminent, but necessary. SisterLove believes in a world where women have the authority to make the most informed decisions relating to their health irrespective of government intrusion. Sisterlove believes in a world where all women, regardless of economic barriers, have access to adequate reproductive health care. As such, SisterLove is vehemently opposed to the Life Act. SisterLove will continue to join in this fight to live in a world where everyone has the right to decide whether or not to have children and raise their children in safe, sustainable communities; only then can reproductive justice truly be realized. Learn more about our work to advocate for policies in Georgia that protect reproductive health, rights, and justice.
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