The Supreme Court of Georgia voted 6–1 on Oct. 24 to uphold the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The lawsuit against the ban was one of many nationwide that have been adjudicated in the wake of restrictive abortion laws that have followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe v. Wade. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court found that there was no right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution and returned the regulation of abortion to the states.
The Supreme Court of Georgia’s new ruling in State of Georgia v. SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective undid a lower court decision that voided parts of the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, which Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed into law in 2019.
The legislation prohibited doctors in the state from performing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, except in certain situations, such as if there was a medical emergency or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.
Specifically, the statute outlawed abortion procedures “if an unborn child has been determined ... to have a detectable human heartbeat.” Pro-choice advocates criticized the law, saying that many women aren’t even aware they are pregnant at the six-week mark.
Some celebrities in the entertainment industry threatened to boycott the state, but that campaign was stalled in mid-2020 when federal Judge Steve C. Jones ruled the statute was unconstitutional. Then, after the Dobbs decision last year, a federal appeals court lifted a stay that was blocking the law and allowed it to be enforced.
Speaking for the majority on the state Supreme Court, Justice Verda Colvin wrote that the “LIFE Act was enacted against the backdrop of the same United States Constitution that governs today."
“The United States Supreme Court does not supply meaning to, and has no power to change, the independent and fixed meaning of the United States Constitution," Justice Colvin wrote. "And we have no authority to defy now-controlling United States Supreme Court precedent interpreting the United States Constitution when determining whether the LIFE Act violated the Constitution at the time of its enactment.”
The state Supreme Court remanded the case to the Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta for further proceedings.
Georgia Justice John Ellington dissented from the majority opinion.
The justice wrote that the Georgia General Assembly should have gone back to the drawing board and enacted a new abortion statute after the Dobbs ruling was rendered.
He wrote that the trial court in the case ruled correctly when it found that parts of the LIFE Act "were void on the date enacted and can never be enforced."
"The United States Constitution did not when ratified, and does not now, expressly provide for judicial review of the validity of statutory law. Rather, in Marbury v. Madison ... (1803), the Supreme Court of the United States famously found that such authority was necessarily implied in the authority of courts to render judgment in particular cases. The Georgia Constitution, on the other hand, since 1861 has expressly provided for judicial review of legislative acts as a fundamental principle of self-government," he wrote.
"Under well-settled Georgia law, a legislative act that is unconstitutional on the date it is enacted is void from its inception and forever afterward."
The justice continued: "Under Georgia law, a void legislative act can be made effective only by reenactment, or, more precisely, a statute created or amended by a legislative act that was void at its inception can become effective only by passage of a new legislative act that is not void.
"As a matter of public policy, requiring reenactment is healthy for our democracy. It promotes public civic engagement, and it requires our legislators to be responsive to public opinion in light of new precedent and to consider the will of the people when making policy decisions that will profoundly affect them."
One justice didn't participate in the decision. Another justice was disqualified from the case.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Mr. Kemp for comment.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, said in a statement that his office was "pleased with the court's decision and will continue to defend the constitutionality of Georgia's LIFE Act."
Lauren Eden of the Abortion Survivors network told CNN: "I am thrilled. It's going to protect so many innocent lives like mine.
"This will not only protect the lives of unborn babies but also the lives of the mothers who we know suffer so much pain after an abortion procedure."
Georgia House Democrats criticized the new ruling.
"This harmful decision leaves in place a deadly restriction on reproductive rights and criminalizes doctors who are seeking to provide life saving healthcare to patients across the state," they said in a statement.
Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, which was a plaintiff in the case, also criticized the decision.
"Today's devastating decision means that our people will continue to face the horrible reality that they are in today where Georgians are suffering because they cannot access abortion care. This abortion ban has forced Georgians to travel across state lines at great expense or continue the life-altering consequences of pregnancy and childbirth against their wills."
Matthew Vadum is an award-winning investigative journalist.
