Lawsuit seeks to block Georgia law that bans most abortions
ATLANTA (AP) — A federal lawsuit filed today in Atlanta is the latest effort by abortion providers and advocacy groups to challenge a wave of restrictive abortion laws passed in conservative states.
Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit challenging a new Georgia law that effectively bans abortions about six weeks into a pregnancy.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Georgia abortion providers and advocacy groups, asks a judge to prevent the law from taking effect and to declare it unconstitutional. If it's not blocked, the law is set to take effect Jan. 1.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has clearly held that a woman has the freedom to make one of the most intimate decisions that she can make," ACLU of Georgia legal director Sean Young said.
The so-called heartbeat law bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. It is one of a spate of laws passed recently by Republican-controlled legislatures in an attack on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that said a woman has the right to choose whether to have an abortion.
The legislation makes exceptions in the case of rape and incest, if the woman files a police report first. It also allows for abortions when the life of the woman is at risk or when a fetus is determined not to be viable because of a serious medical condition.
It also declares an embryo or fetus a "natural person" once cardiac activity can be detected, saying that is the point where "the full value of a child begins." That would make the fetus a dependent minor for tax purposes and trigger child support obligations.