On Monday, The Georgia Supreme Court has halted a ruling striking down the state’s near-ban on abortions while the state appeals. The judge's decision rolled back abortion limits in Georgia to a prior law allowing abortions until viability, roughly 22 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled Sept. 30 that privacy rights under Georgia's state constitution include the right to make personal healthcare decisions.
In 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade that ended a national right to abortion. The Georgia law prohibits most pregnancy around six weeks, when cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in an embryo’s cells that will eventually become the heart.
Abortion providers and advocates in Georgia had applauded McBurney's ruling but expressed concern that it would soon be overturned.