Without Roe v. Wade protections, Georgia's abortion law set to take effect

June 24th, 2022

Abortion right activists gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Georgia’s six-week abortion ban is expected to take effect soon, now that the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday. The court’s decision allows states to enact their own abortion laws. Georgia abortion-rights advocates say they’ll keep fighting for access to the procedure across the state.

The decision follows a leaked draft opinion revealed in May indicating justices were considering overturning the landmark 1973 decision guaranteeing abortion access nationwide.

In Georgia, the high court’s ruling means the state’s 2019 law HB 481 is poised to take effect. The law bans abortion at around six weeks of pregnancy except in certain circumstances. These include rape or incest — if a police report is filed — miscarriage and pregnancies deemed medically futile.

The law’s been held up in the courts awaiting the Supreme Court ruling.

And now, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals could take up Georgia’s abortion law and issue an official decision allowing it to take effect any day now.