On June 28, 2019, the ACLU, Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood filed SisterSong v. Kemp, a federal lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs, including doctors, health care providers, and their patients challenging Georgia’s abortion ban. The law bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy – before many people even know they are pregnant, and its scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2020. We have filed this lawsuit to stop the ban from becoming law.
“Georgia's abortion ban is blatantly unconstitutional under nearly 50 years of U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Politicians should never second guess women’s health care decisions,” said Sean J. Young, legal director of the ACLU of Georgia. “Politicians have no business telling women or a couple when to start or expand a family. Our lawsuit asks the court to block the law from taking effect on January 1, 2020.”
- forces women to continue their pregnancies against their will, exposing many to serious health risks – such as heart attacks, stroke, or kidney damage –that they will be powerless to address,
- threatens OB/GYNs and other healthcare professionals with criminal penalties for providing standard-of-care treatments if a treatment poses any risk to an embryo, and
- interferes with standard-of-care treatment which will drive doctors out of Georgia which will create a devastating impact on women’s access to healthcare especially for low-income, rural, women of color – all of whom are already least able to access medical care.