PRESS ADVISORY: ACLU, Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Host Press Conference on Filing Motion for Preliminary Injunction on Georgia Abortion Ban

Press Conference

Richard B. Russell Federal Building

(on the Martin Luther King side)

75 Ted Turner Drive SW

Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Tuesday, July 23, 2019, noon

WHY

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Georgia, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Planned Parenthood filed a motion for preliminary injunctive relief in their lawsuit SisterSong v. Kemp. We are asking the Court to block this law from going into effect before January 2020, while the case is still ongoing.

The lawsuit, filed in June, challenges Georgia’s abortion ban which is set to take effect on January 1, 2020. The law bans abortion from the earliest weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant.

As the motion for preliminary injunctive relief states, Georgia’s abortion ban is in clear violation of Roe v. Wade and nearly a half century of Supreme Court precedent reaffirming Roe’s central holding. Writing for the court in 1992, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote, “The ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives.”

“Reproductive freedom means that these are private, personal decisions that a woman makes based on her own faith, her own family, and advice from her own physician,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia. “Politicians have no place in these personal decisions.”

“As a reproductive justice organization based in Georgia for over 20 years, SisterSong is committed to centering and amplifying the needs of those communities historically pushed to the margins. Georgia’s maternal mortality rate is the second highest in the nation and Black women in our state are dying at six times the national average. SisterSong is bringing this lawsuit to protect maternal health and reproductive rights so that every person – especially persons of color – can thrive in their families and communities as well as maintain their human right to make their own decisions about their reproductive lives,” said Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong.

“Feminist Women’s Health Center has been providing comprehensive reproductive health services, including abortion care, to Georgians since 1976 and mobilizing in our communities since 1996. We are challenging this unconstitutional law because we are committed to serving our patients and to a vision of Georgia where reproductive justice is fully realized for everyone. This clinic stays open,” said Kwajelyn J. Jackson, executive director of Feminist Women’s Health Center.

“This year, 37 states introduced abortion bans. Twelve states passed them, including Georgia. If there’s one thing this unprecedented attack on reproductive health and rights has shown us, it’s that we don’t have the luxury of being a healthcare provider or an advocate. We must be both. Because our patients’ constitutional rights are on the line. And if we don’t continue to fight back, their lives will be on the line too,” said Staci Fox, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast.

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