abortions
US federal court rules ‘heartbeat law’ in Georgia
The US state of Georgia will have strict abortion laws in the future. A federal court gives the “heartbeat law” its okay. This means that women can only terminate a pregnancy in the first six weeks.
A month after the US Supreme Court’s controversial abortion decision, a federal court has ruled that the state of Georgia may in future have strict abortion rules. The Federal Court of Appeals decided that the so-called Heartbeat Act could go into effect immediately. Accordingly, women in the state are no longer allowed to terminate their pregnancy as soon as the heartbeat of the fetus has been determined. This can happen as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. The Georgia law had been in court for several years.
The judges said the Supreme Court’s decision paved the way for the law’s passage: The Supreme Court’s ruling made it clear that the Constitution does not provide a right to abortion — so Georgia can ban it, Wednesday’s ruling said. Georgia law provides exceptions for cases of rape and incest that are reported to the police. Subsequent abortions are also permitted if the mother’s life is in danger or the fetus is not viable.
US court overturns abortion law
At the end of June, the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion, which had existed for almost 50 years, arguing that it was not enshrined in the constitution. Because there is no statewide law protecting the right to abortion, legislation now rests with the states. Republican-governed states in particular are trying to enshrine restrictive abortion laws as quickly as possible. They are sometimes stopped again, at least temporarily, by local courts.