### Georgia Judge Overturns Six-Week Abortion Ban, Reinstates 22-Week Limit

On Monday, a significant legal decision was made in Georgia’s Fulton County as a judge struck down the state's six-week abortion ban, reestablishing the procedure's legality up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. This ruling marks a pivotal shift in the state's reproductive laws.

The six-week ban had previously been signed into law by Republican Governor Brian Kemp in 2019. However, its enforcement faced delays due to legal challenges and only took effect in July 2022, following the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Judge Robert McBurney, who issued Monday's ruling, stressed in his written opinion that Georgia's understanding of "liberty" includes the right of women to have control over their own bodies and healthcare choices, free from state interference. "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," McBurney asserted.

However, McBurney clarified that this right is not without limits. He noted that state intervention is justified when a fetus reaches viability, defined as the stage where society can assume care and responsibility for the arising life. He highlighted the drastic shift in the legal timeframe for abortion introduced by the 2019 law, which reduced the period during which women could legally terminate a pregnancy from about 20 weeks down to six weeks, a stage when many women might not even be aware they are pregnant.

The lawsuit challenging the six-week ban was initiated in 2019 by the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, among other plaintiffs. Initially, McBurney ruled in 2022 that the six-week ban violated the U.S. Constitution, leading to its suspension. However, the Georgia Supreme Court later allowed the law to stay in force pending further review.

This latest ruling once again emphasizes the ongoing legal and ethical debates surrounding reproductive rights in Georgia and across the United States.