A Georgia Judge Makes It Legal To Have Abortion At Up To 22 Weeks Of Pregnancy

A Georgia Judge Strikes Down The State’s 6 Week Abortion Ban, Makes It Legal To Have The Procedure At Up To 22 Weeks

A Georgia judge has made a big decision on the state’s abortion ban. The new law is a win for women as it’s now legal to have the procedure at up to 22 weeks.

On Monday, a Fulton County Judge, Robert McBurney, struck down Georgia’s six week abortion ban, which now makes the procedure legal up to 22 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.

The extremely controversial law, especially with the Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade, previously took effect in 2022 after being signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019.

According to AP News, the bans have been felt deeply in the South because many people live hundreds of miles from states where abortion procedures can be obtained legally.

Judge McBurney ruled that “liberty” based on interpretation means that a woman has control over her own body and should house the power what happens with it and that the state shouldn’t interfere unless necessary.

“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,” McBurney continued.

The judge is convinced closing the window to six weeks was too extreme, as even at that point a lot of women are unaware of their pregnancy.

“It’s extreme narrowing of the window of time within which women have the legal ability to end a pregnancy from roughly twenty weeks (i.e., viability) down to a mere six weeks, a point at which many if not most women are completely unaware or at best unsure if they are pregnant,” he added.