South Gwinnett News

Arguments challenging the state's Heartbeat Law are breaking ground in Georgia, as a women's reproductive health group brings a lawsuit to a Fulton County judge.

According to a recent report by FOX 5 Atlanta, the law, put into effect this summer, bans most abortions after a heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy—before many women even know that they are pregnant.

Though the Heartbeat Law was initially signed by Gov. Brain Kemp (R-GA) in 2019, a series of lawsuits challenging its validity have prevented the state from enacting it. When the U.S. Supreme Court made the decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling earlier this summer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit allowed the ban to take effect, FOX 5 reports.

"This affects reproductive health care across the board. It has overturned 50 years of practice," Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, told FOX 5 Atlanta.

The lawsuit—filed shortly after the new law took effect—asks a Fulton County judge to issue a temporary injunction to halt the state’s Heartbeat Law, the report states. It also argues that the current ban is a violation of Georgia’s Constitution, claiming it contains “strong privacy protections.”

"Georgia has a right to privacy that right to privacy extends to a person's body and health and that's what is being infringed on today," Susan Lambiase, a senior counsel for Planned Parenthood, told FOX 5 Atlanta.