ATLANTA — For the second time, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge ruled to overturn Georgia's heartbeat law on Monday.
This comes after plaintiffs, Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and its members, sought a permanent injunction to prohibit the state's "Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act," or LIFE Act, from being enforced and to determine it to be unconstitutional.
It also follows a ProPublica report that said at least two women died after they couldn't access legal abortions and timely medical care in Georgia.
RELATED: Health care providers, patients testify on Georgia's heartbeat law in Senate committee hearing
For context, the law was first passed in April 2019. One part of the law criminalized abortions after the embryo had a detectable human heartbeat. This is typically around six weeks. Before the law passed, abortions were allowed for up to around 20 weeks. The new heartbeat law also added a requirement that any physician who performs an abortion after detecting a fetal heartbeat must report it to the Department of Public Health.
Georgia's law did not go into effect until Roe V. Wade was overturned in 2022. Once the law was set to go into effect, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney made his first ruling that the state's ban violated the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court precedent, according to previous reporting by 11Alive. The ruling was then applied statewide.
This was then appealed, and the Georgia Supreme Court reversed McBurney's decision in an October 2023 ruling. McBurney made this judgement holding a legal principle called ab initio, which is essentially you can't pass an unconstitutional law even if it later becomes constitutional.
“The holdings of United States Supreme Court cases interpreting the United States Constitution that have since been overruled cannot establish that a law was unconstitutional when enacted and therefore cannot render a law void ab initio,” Justice Verda M. Colvin wrote in the majority opinion.
The Supreme Court then sent the case back to the trial court to "consider the merits of the other challenges brought by opponents of the Act."
Now, in the Monday ruling, McBurney decided again that the law is unconstitutional and said that the state or any local authority is once again enjoined from seeking to enforce the abortion ban in Georgia.
"Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote," Judge McBurney wrote. "Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy, even taking into consideration whatever bundle of rights the not-yet-viable fetus may have."
The ruling was praised by the organization Reproductive Freedom for All Georgia, writing, "This decision is a crucial victory for reproductive freedom."
"Georgia’s ban is one of the most extreme in the country," it continued. "While we are happy to see this ban blocked, our work isn’t over. It’s essential that we elect Kamala Harris to restore federal protections for abortion nationwide so that bans like Georgia's never have the chance to harm our communities again.”
Meanwhile, in a statement on behalf of the governor, a spokesperson denounced the ruling, writing, “Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives have been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge," the statement read. "Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities, and Georgia will continue to be a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn.”
The Georgia Attorney General's Office said in a statement to 11Alive that they believe the law is constitutional and will appeal this decision. Once it's appealed, it would be up to Georgia's Supreme Court again and that court has previously reversed McBurney's last decision.
“We believe Georgia’s LIFE Act is fully constitutional, and we will immediately appeal the lower court’s decision," a spokesperson with the Attorney General's Office said.
Shortly after the ruling came down, members of the ACLU gave remarks from the Georgia state capitol supporting the decision from the Georgia state capitol. You can watch those remarks below: