Georgia’s LIFE Act, the law that bans abortions after doctors can discover a baby’s heartbeat in the womb, has faced legal challenges almost from the point that Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) signed it into law in 2019. The pro-abortion lobby has just suffered a setback in its latest court challenge to the law.
In a near-unanimous ruling in which one justice was disqualified and another did not participate, the Georgia Supreme Court has kicked the latest case against the LIFE Act back to a lower court. The decision vacates a lower court’s ruling and could force the pro-abortion plaintiffs to start all over again.
“SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and other abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit in 2022, arguing that the law violated a woman's right to privacy under Georgia's constitution,” reports Fox 5 Atlanta. “In November 2023, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled the law unconstitutional, stating it infringed on women's rights to make personal medical decisions, and sought to reinstate the previous standard allowing abortions up to 22 weeks.”
“In a 6-1 decision, the justices instructed Judge McBurney to reconsider the plaintiffs' legal standing in light of a recent decision, Wasserman v. Franklin County, which eliminated third-party standing in Georgia courts,” the report continues. “The court emphasized that ‘a plaintiff may not maintain an action in Georgia courts by asserting only the rights of a third party and meeting the elements of the federal test.’”
It's now up to McBurney to determine the plaintiffs’ standing under this recent precedent. If the judge decides that the plaintiffs’ standing is invalid, the pro-aborts will have to start over with a new strategy to challenge the law. The abortion lobby has hung all of its hopes of getting the green light to kill more Georgia babies on this suit.
“Now that the federal doctrine of third-party standing is no longer a part of Georgia’s law of constitutional standing, a plaintiff may not maintain an action in Georgia courts by asserting only the rights of a third party and meeting the elements of the federal test,” wrote the Georgia Supreme Court in its ruling.
“It’s yet another recognition of the absurdity of SisterSong’s challenge,” Cole Muzio of Frontline Policy told PJ Media about the ruling. “Our Heartbeat Law remains on sound legal footing and saving lives.”
This ruling comes just days after nasty Democrats in the General Assembly introduced legislation attempting to strip funding from pro-life medical pregnancy centers in the Peach State. Abortion advocates will stop at nothing to kill as many Georgia babies as they can.
“This legislation is both authored and funded by Amplify Georgia, a pro-abortion organization and is nothing more than their latest attempt to ensure that abortion is the ONLY option available to women facing crisis in our state,” explains Liz Edmonds.
The court's ruling is encouraging — at least for now. But the pro-life movement in Georgia will always be on offense in the fight for life. You can help us fight for life in every state by becoming a PJ Media VIP.
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