ATLANTA (AP) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling and said Georgia’s restrictive 2019 abortion law should be allowed to take effect.The Georgia law bans most abortions once a "detectable human heartbeat" is present.
Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will eventually become the heart as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women realize they’re pregnant.The Georgia law includes exceptions for rape and incest, as long as a police report is filed.
It also provides for later abortions when the mother’s life is at risk or a serious medical condition renders a fetus unviable.A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals said that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Mississippi case that overturned Roe v. Wade clears the way for the law to take effect, saying it "makes clear no right to abortion exists under the Constitution, so Georgia may prohibit them."The appeals court also rejected arguments that a "personhood" provision in the law is unconstitutionally vague.