It’s an encouraging day for supporters of life in the Peach State. The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s fetal heartbeat law, known as the LIFE Act, is legal, which means that it will stay on the books.
“That means most abortions will continue to be banned once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, typically around six weeks of pregnancy and before many know they are pregnant, while the Fulton County Superior Court considers other arguments made by abortion advocates and providers about why the restrictions should be lifted,” reports WSB Radio.
Pro-abortion groups brought a challenge to the courts that the law was unconstitutional when the General Assembly and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp passed the law in 2019.
WSB reports that “abortion rights groups and providers argued that when the state statute passed in 2019, Roe v. Wade was the law of the land and the state constitution does not allow the Legislature to enact statutes that violate the law.”
However, the court ruled that the constitutionality of the law four years ago has no bearing on its validity in a post-Dobbs Georgia.
“The state argued that it didn’t matter if the law was not constitutional when it passed the General Assembly in 2019, it is now in line with the law as established when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the 1973 decision had been wrong all along,” WSB points out.
The court said in its opinion that “we are not addressing a pre-Dobbs challenge to the LIFE Act. Because the United States Supreme Court clearly ruled in Dobbs that Roe and its progeny no longer control, we are not at liberty to apply Roe-era precedent in determining whether the LIFE Act was void ab initio. Rather, we must ‘faithfully apply’ Dobbs, which is now the controlling ‘decision of the United States Supreme Court as to the meaning of [the United States Constitution].'”
Pro-life groups throughout Georgia are celebrating the court’s decision.
🚨BREAKING NEWS:
The Georgia Supreme Court just threw out an absurd argument against our state’s LIFE act, and so GEORGIA’s HEARTBEAT LAW REMAINS IN EFFECT!#Heartbeat #ProLife pic.twitter.com/Als5ZIzTUM— Frontline Policy (@FrontlineGA) October 24, 2023
Related: ‘They Don’t Know Pro-Life People Well’: the Bravery of Pregnancy Centers Facing Threats
“After an absurd challenge, the Georgia Supreme Court made the simple, easy, and only decision to uphold the LIFE Act,” Cole Muzio, president of Frontline Policy Council & Frontline Policy Action, told PJ Media. “We look forward to seeing lives continue to be protected in our state and remain vigilant in defending the law from further attempts from pro-abortion advocates who seek to reverse the progress we’ve made at the ballot box, General Assembly, or courtroom.”
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