NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia Celebrates as Georgia's Extreme Ban on Abortion is Blocked - Reproductive Freedom for All

Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America

Press Release

NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia Celebrates as Georgia’s Extreme Ban on Abortion is Blocked

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Contact: [email protected]

Washington, DC Today, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney blocked Georgia’s extreme ban on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, which is before many people even know they are pregnant. The decision came as a result of a lawsuit brought to the courts by the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective alongside Georgia abortion providers. Anti-choice extremist Gov. Brian Kemp initially enacted this law (HB 481) in 2019. It was blocked by a federal court in October 2019, struck down with a permanent injunction in July 2020, but reinstated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit earlier this year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement in response:

“What you just heard was a sigh of relief and a chorus of cheers across the state of Georgia, as people who have been denied their fundamental freedoms for too long react to the news that Gov. Kemp’s abortion ban has finally been blocked. NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia and our 83,000 members are celebrating too, and we will use this victory as motivation to keep up our fight for our freedoms during the 2023 state legislative session and by reelecting Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock in the upcoming runoff election.”

Though the vast majority of Georgians support reproductive freedom, out-of-touch, anti-choice Republican lawmakers in the state passed one of the most extreme bans and restrictions on abortion in the country. In October, NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia and Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates released new polling from EMC Research showing that Georgia voters overwhelmingly oppose efforts to restrict abortion access:

  • 92% of Georgia voters do not believe abortion should be illegal.
  • 62% of voters oppose—and 55% strongly oppose—the recent overturning of Roe by the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • 62% of voters oppose—and 52% strongly oppose—Georgia’s six-week ban on abortion, overturned today.
  • 83% oppose criminal penalties for medical professionals who provide reproductive healthcare.

 

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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.