ATL Standard

As the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade decision protecting the constitutional right to abortion, authorities in Georgia are urging a federal appeals court to allow the state’s 2019 abortion law to take effect.

According to a recent report by FOX 5 Atlanta, the Georgia law bans most abortions once a "detectable human heartbeat" is present. With cardiac activity able to be detected by ultrasound as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, this takes away the option for abortion before many women even realize they are pregnant.

This comes as the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in a case out of Mississippi in June, asserted that the nearly 50-year-old Roe vs. Wade ruling protecting abortion rights was not constitutional, setting the stage for state officials to argue those challenging Georgia’s law "now have no case” given the precedence has now been overturned.

While the Georgia law includes exceptions for rape and incest, individuals would be required to file a police report, FOC 5 reports. It also makes an exception for later-stage abortions when the mother’s life is at risk, or a serious medical condition renders a fetus unviable.

According to the report, attorneys for groups challenging the law have acknowledged that the ruling allows the state’s ban on many abortions to take effect, though they argued in their brief that “a provision that grants ‘personhood’ to a fetus should remain blocked.”