Georgia Supreme Court rules that the state’s heartbeat law is constitutional

The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s ban on abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable is constitutional, overturning a lower court ruling.

In 2019 the Georgia legislature passed the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act. The LIFE Act prohibited abortion, except for in certain cases of rape or incest, if the life or physical health of the mother was at stake, or if the pregnancy was deemed medically futile and the baby would not survive after birth.

Under the LIFE Act, the state now counts babies as part of the population before they are born. As such, mothers are eligible for child support while carrying the unborn baby and parents may claim them on their income taxes as dependents.

The law was immediately challenged in court and held as unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The law was also challenged after the Supreme Court overturned the preceding cases in Dobbs v. Jackson and declared that there is no right to an abortion in the Constitution.

A judge at the Superior Court of Fulton County had ruled that the LIFE Act was “plainly unconstitutional” because when the legislature passed the law, the Roe and Casey rulings were still in effect.

The Georgia Supreme Court, however, found that the lower court had “erred” and overturned that decision in a 6-1 ruling, saying that the Constitution doesn’t change, only the Court’s interpretation. The court ruled that

“…the trial court concluded that portions of the LIFE Act were void when enacted in 2019 because they ‘were plainly unconstitutional [under the United States Constitution] when drafted, voted upon, and enacted.’ According to the trial court, this was true even though the LIFE Act would comply with the United States Constitution if enacted today and the same United States Constitution governs today as governed when the LIFE Act was enacted.”

The state’s highest court argued that the Supreme Court is not the source of the Constitution’s meaning, which is fixed and found only in its ratified words. Justice Verda Colvin wrote,

“In sum, then, the United States Constitution, not the United States Supreme Court, is the source of the Constitution’s meaning; the United States Supreme Court has no power to amend the Constitution through interpretation; and the text of the United States Constitution has not been amended since the LIFE Act was enacted. Thus, the United States Constitution means today what it meant when the LIFE Act was enacted in 2019, even if the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution has changed.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser hailed the ruling, saying in a statement,

“Today’s Georgia Supreme Court decision ensures that tens of thousands of children with beating hearts will continue to be protected from brutal abortions. It is the latest vindication of the will of Georgians, who have compassion for both babies and mothers, along with lawmakers like Governor Kemp and many others who heard them and acted. Twenty-five states – half the country – have pro-life protections in their law in the new Dobbs era. The majority of these states protect unborn children at least when their heartbeat can be detected, a point when science shows they have more than a 90% chance of surviving to birth.”

The ruling follows the South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling which also upheld that state’s heartbeat law banning abortion after six weeks.

Let’s make something clear: The Constitution never guaranteed the right to an abortion, so in the Dobbs case, the Supreme Court did not remove the right to an abortion. Instead, it corrected a wrong by removing an amendment to the Constitution that was made by judicial fiat rather than by the constitutional amendment process that requires ratification by at least 38 states. No, it was the Supreme Court in Roe and Casey that acted in an unconstitutional manner.

States have always had the right to restrict abortion under the Constitution, and this ruling recognizes that. More importantly, this decision helps protect babies from being murdered. As pro-aborts have shown, no law that restricts abortion in any way will be viewed as acceptable in their eyes, and so they will continue to push for the right to kill a child up to birth — and even beyond birth.

Christians should celebrate righteous rulings such as what happened at the Georgia Supreme Court. However, the fight continues, and pro-lifers must continue to do their part to try to protect the lives of babies and push back on the devaluing of all human life.

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