The Quickie: Georgia's Six Week Ban Is Officially Unconstitutional
For Immediate Release: Nov. 16, 2022
Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.
In today’s Quickie: GA state court blocks unconstitutional six-week abortion ban, Planned Parenthood Votes responds to Donald Trump’s third presidential bid, and inside anti-abortion legislative planning meetings in TN!
GEORGIA STATE COURT BLOCKS UNCONSTITUTIONAL SIX-WEEK ABORTION BAN: Yesterday, the Superior Court of Fulton County struck down Georgia’s ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, allowing health care providers to once again provide essential abortion and miscarriage services. The injunction comes as a response to a lawsuit filed by abortion providers and advocates, including Planned Parenthood Southeast (PPSE) and Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).
“We celebrate this victory in Georgia that restores the right to abortion and reproductive freedom,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of PPFA, in a statement yesterday. “For months, Georgians have suffered the consequences of a cruel abortion ban. Today’s ruling means that patients will no longer be deprived of their autonomy and forced to be pregnant longer than they want to be. While we are grateful to once again be able to provide care in the state of Georgia, the fight for reproductive freedom continues across the country. We will continue to fight so that every person in Georgia and beyond is able to receive the care they deserve without fear of prosecution or harm.”
Judge Robert McBurney struck down the abortion ban on the grounds that it was void from the start under Georgia’s constitution, which prohibits legislation that violates federal constitutional precedent. The abortion ban was passed and enacted in 2019, while Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land.
PPSE reported that they were already “flooded” with calls since the ruling and that they are determined to reopen their four clinics across the state for abortion services as soon as operationally and legally possible.
Read more at the Washington Post. Read PPFA’s full release here.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD VOTES RESPONDS TO DONALD TRUMP’S THIRD PRESIDENTIAL BID: Last night, Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, released the following statement following Donald Trump’s announcement of his candidacy for President:
“Make no mistake: Donald Trump’s racist, conspiracy-theory driven, and extreme rhetoric was and still is the biggest threat to U.S. democracy. His legacy of hate took this country backward. He continues to be a grave threat to all of our rights, including the right to a safe and legal abortion. In 2020, voters overwhelmingly rejected his divisive and dangerous agenda, and they will reject it again — no matter whether the agenda comes from Trump himself or one of his imitators.”
Read more here.
INSIDE ANTI-ABORTION LEGISLATIVE PLANNING MEETINGS IN TN: This week, ProPublica published an article about the behind-closed-doors conversations that the anti-abortion lobby and politicians in Tennessee are having regarding the future of the state’s total abortion ban, the strictest in the nation, and further restrictions to reproductive health care. ProPublica obtained recordings of meetings between leaders from anti-abortion groups and state lawmakers where anti-abortion activists urged lawmakers not to revisit the 2019 trigger ban to add in exceptions or to remove criminal sanctions for medical professionals who provide abortion care. The anti-abortion groups even urged lawmakers to consider additional restrictions and bans on other forms of reproductive health care like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the morning after pill.
These conversations are not just confined to Tennessee: anti-abortion groups have been crafting model legislation using the same highly restrictive language of the Tennessee abortion ban they helped create. They also continued to spread medical misinformation about abortion care to lawmakers across the country.
Read more at ProPublica.