The month of October has seen an avalanche of activity, non-stop debate, and political controversy regarding the sanctity of human life. This has been in large part due to the recent presidential election that took place on Tuesday, November 5. However, Georgia saw its own Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the State Supreme Court in action over the controversial L.I.F.E. Act (H.B. 481) that was previously signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp in 2019.
The History of the L.I.F.E. Act
The Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act (L.I.F.E.) was introduced during Georgia’s 2019 legislative session. It was passed by both legislative chambers only after revisions were made which included the discriminatory elements of exceptions for abortion of preborn children whose heartbeat was undetectable, even though in the definitions section of the legislation “‘[u]nborn child’ means a member of the species Homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb.”
This begs the question: Is not the preborn child developing during the first weeks of his life when the heartbeat is not detectable?
The L.I.F.E. Act was signed into law in May 2019, and it took effect on January 1, 2020. The Act was immediately brought under court challenge by Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and in July 2020 a federal District Court judge enjoined the state from enforcing the law “in its entirety.” This was based on the finding by the court that it was “fundamentally inconsistent” with Roe v. Wade.
The L.I.F.E. Act consists of sixteen sections, but only three sections were challenged by the plaintiffs as infringing upon their rights. Those are sections 4, 10, and 11.
Very briefly, section 4 criminalizes abortions occurring after the heartbeat is detected; section 10 requires the abortionist to determine whether the heartbeat is detected; and section 11 requires the abortionist to report any abortion that was performed after the preborn’s heartbeat was detected.
Fast forward to August 2022, the Superior Court in Fulton County found that “Superior Courts may not enjoin allegedly unconstitutional laws or acts until after declaratory relief has been afforded.” In November 2022, the Georgia court granted the motion for partial judgment on the basis that several challenged provisions of the L.I.F.E. Act were “void ad initio” – meaning that they were unconstitutional when they were passed.
The State Attorney’s office immediately appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court and in October 2023 the Supreme Court returned the case to the lower court for a ruling on the sections being challenged.
In response to Sistersong Women of Reproductive Justice Collective’s suit, September 30, 2024, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, referencing language from Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), ruled stating:
A review of our higher courts’ interpretations of “liberty” demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices. That power is not, however, unlimited. When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then – and only then- may society intervene. An arbitrary six-week ban on PECAP [post-embryonic cardiac activity pregnancy] terminations is inconsistent with these rights….
Accordingly, Section 4 of the L.I.F.E. Act is hereby DECLARED unconstitutional. The State and all its agents, to include any County, Municipal, or other local authority, are once again ENJOINED from seeking to enforce in any manner the LIFE Act’s PECAP termination ban in Georgia.
As a result of the ruling, Georgia reverted back to its pre-L.I.F.E. Act 22-week abortion law. However, it was short-lived because the ruling was quickly appealed, and the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in favor of the appeal. Now, Georgia is back under the provisions of the L.I.F.E. Act, until the next challenge is heard in the courts.
Who Are the Real Losers in the Debate?
The short answer: Preborn babies whose lives are expendable because they are not recognized as human beings deserving the right to life.
While the courts battle, abortions continue. Every day the lives of preborn children are at stake throughout our state. This is not the hour in the history of Georgia to shut our eyes, to retreat, to sit back and relax!
If there has ever been a time to put on our armor, to link arms, to be immovable, it is now. We live in a culture where the powers of darkness and hell are fiercely opposing the light of truth, and the line between good and evil is becoming more clear. God’s people are being summoned to greater challenges and higher resolve.
In Georgia, at this very moment, preborn children’s lives hang in the balance. Expectant mothers and fathers are making decisions as to whether their child will live or die. The necessity for your time, talent, and treasure exceeds the demand!
The only solution to the abortion issue is to end abortion now. By recognizing the personhood of all innocent human beings and protecting them through an amendment to our state’s constitution, we begin the journey back to the unalienable right to life which ultimately abolishes abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and any other lethal threats.
Join with us as we seek to protect all innocent human lives in Georgia – from earliest biological beginning to natural death.
You can learn more about our Personhood Amendment to the state constitution and take the opportunity to sign it at https://grtl.org/georgians-ending-abortion/
Georgia CAN be ABORTION-FREE!
Source:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25178647-georgia-abortion-law-ruling-sept-30-2024
Zemmie Fleck
Georgia Right to Life
Executive Director