South Fulton Today

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney has overturned the state's ban on abortion starting around six weeks into a pregnancy, ruling it as a violation of the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent when enacted, according to a report by FOX 5 Atlanta.

The state's current abortion law banned most abortions once a detectable human heartbeat was present with cardiac activity being detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will eventually become the heart as early as six weeks into the term of a pregnancy.

 At this point, many abortions were effectively banned at a point before women even knew they were pregnant, the report states.

"Everywhere in America, including Georgia, it was unequivocally unconstitutional for governments -- federal, state, or local -- to ban abortions before viability," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his ruling.

According to the report, the judge’s ruling came as part of a lawsuit filed by doctors and advocacy groups in July that sought to strike down the ban on multiple grounds, including assertions that it violates the state’s constitutional right to privacy and liberty by forcing pregnancy and childbirth on women in the state.

Georgia's law was passed by state lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019 but had been blocked from taking effect until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected the right to an abortion for nearly 50 years.