ACLU and SisterSong Statement on Petition to Georgia Supreme Court to Reinstate Abortion Ban

ATLANTA – Attorney General Christopher Carr filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Georgia today requesting to block a trial court ruling invalidating the state’s six-week abortion ban and reinstate the ban while the State’s appeal proceeds. The request comes just two days after the Superior Court of Fulton County issued a decision striking down the state’s ban — finding that the Georgia Constitution prohibits political interference with an individual’s abortion decision before viability — and weeks after reports that the six-week ban caused the deaths of two Black women in Georgia.

In response to the filing, lead plaintiff SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Georgia issued the following statements:

“We are disappointed but not surprised to learn that Governor Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Carr are bending over backwards to ask the State Supreme Court to reinstate this deadly abortion ban,” said Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. “Time and time again, we see anti-abortion extremists using our bodies for political gain instead of advocating for the safety and health of all Georgians. This abortion ban has forced Georgians to spend hundreds traveling across state lines and stole the lives of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller. This extremist crusade only further disregards our bodily autonomy, our lives, and our dignity. For nearly five years, we have resisted this ban, which is white supremacy in action. We refuse to back down or be silenced. Alongside our partners, we will continue to demand Reproductive Justice because, unlike Governor Kemp and Attorney General Carr, we understand that the freedom and livelihood of all Georgians matters more than political grandstanding.”

“Even after a judge ruled that Georgia’s abortion ban violates Georgians’ fundamental rights and freedoms – and even after the devastating reporting that the ban is the reason Candi Miller and Amber Nicole Thurman are not alive with their families today – Gov. Kemp and AG Carr are using every tool at their disposal to try to put this dangerous ban back in place,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “This is appalling and cruel, but we won’t back down in the face of politicians more interested in scoring a political point than preserving the health, safety, and dignity of their constituents. We will never stop fighting until every person has the power to make personal medical decisions during pregnancy and access the care they need.”

“It’s clear that the state of Georgia has taken an extreme position to have control over decisions about reproductive rights,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia. “We have already seen the tragic consequences of this extreme policy and we will continue to fight in the courts and at the ballot box.”