A federal appeals court stayed its review of a case surrounding a Georgia abortion law pending the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS) upcoming ruling on a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The Georgia law, which passed in 2019, would have banned abortions upon fetal heartbeat detection. A district court judge issued an injunction and struck it down in July 2020, ruling that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling staying the appeal in the Georgia case just three days after hearing arguments Friday on whether it should overturn a lower court ruling that permanently blocked the 2019 Georgia law. That means the law remains blocked, and abortion in Georgia remains available up to 20 weeks into pregnancy,” the Associated Press reported. “The ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights had sued on behalf of Georgia abortion providers and an advocacy group to block the law, and a federal judge ruled in July 2020 that the law was unconstitutional.”
Recently, Texas enacted this type of abortion legislation with its law S.B. 8. On Sept. 1, when S.B. 8 took effect, SCOTUS ruled 5-4 upholding the law after abortion advocacy groups submitted an emergency request urging the Court to strike it down. South Carolina passed a heartbeat bill in February, but is jumping through hoops to have the law take effect, as we reported.
The impending Supreme Court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, surrounds a 2018 law in Mississippi that bans abortions at 15 weeks gestation. The high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments for Dobbs on Dec. 1.
In an amicus brief filed by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, she argued that the Court should overturn both Roe and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, as we reported. In a separate brief, two dozen attorneys general urged the high court to overturn Roe in wake of Dobbs, as we also reported.
On the other hand, we covered how over 500 professional female athletes filed a brief last week urging SCOTUS to uphold Roe and to strike down Mississippi’s “unconstitutional” abortion legislation. We also covered how over 900 federal lawmakers urged the Court to uphold Roe in a separate brief.
“Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong. The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition,” Fitch said in her brief. “So the question becomes whether this Court should overrule those decisions. It should.”