Top Georgia officials are reacting to the historic but expected U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade which guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion.
UPDATE: 6:00 p.m.
"We're angry, we are heartbroken, especially for the patients who now find themselves living in an abortion desert, or in states where...healthcare is now severely restricted," said Lauren Frazier, Spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Southeast. "While we have been anticipating this day and doing everything that we can to prepare for it and to prepare patients and supporters for this moment, it doesn't make it any less devastating."
For now, Frazier tells AccessWDUN, things will not change for Georgia women right now.
"If folks need to go into a local health center and get care and support and resources, they can still do that as they normally would," she explained. "We are working closely with our lawyers to understand the intricacies of each of those individual laws in those states."
Frazier said the ruling only means that women will have to jump through more hoops to get an abortion and will only make the procedure unsafe.
"We applaud the Supreme Court's decision," said Lee Koz, Executive of Choices Pregnancy Center in Gainesville. "It's an excellent decision, not only morally but also constitutionally speaking."
The Choices Center is a pro-life non-profit organization that provides STI testing for men and women and supports pregnant women and girls. They help mothers find adoption agencies if they choose not to keep their child.
"This improves things for women vastly because abortion is not a good procedure," Koz said. "It's not a physically healthy procedure. It is an invasive abdominal surgery. And a lot of the procedures end with complications."
According to the National Library of Medicine, out of the nearly one-million abortions performed in the U.S. each year, about 2% result in complications. "Most complications are considered minor such as pain, bleeding, infection, and post-anesthesia complications," NLM said. "Others are major, including uterine atony and subsequent hemorrhage, uterine perforation, injuries to adjacent organs (bladder or bowels), cervical laceration, failed abortion, septic abortion, and disseminated intravascular coagulation."
"The power to decide abortion regulation has returned to individual states, which means that we have the power to make our voices heard," Frazier said. "So for any anti-health politician working against our rights to access basic health care, we need to vote them out in November and make sure that we have reproductive health care champions in those seats that will help to fight for our rights."
UPDATE: 3:50 p.m.
Attorney General Chris Carr said Friday that the state has filed a motion requesting the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals lift their current injunction to allow the state's Heartbeat Law to take effect.
“I believe in the dignity, value and worth of every human being, both born and unborn," Carr said in a press release. "The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs is constitutionally correct and rightfully returns the issue of abortion to the states and to the people – where it belongs."
The current injunction on the state's anti-abortion law was contingent on a ruling in the Dobbs case. Many appeals against various abortion laws in the U.S. were in a holding pattern while awaiting the high court's decision.
Georgia's Heartbeat Law essentially outlaws abortions after six weeks—once a fetal heartbeat has been detected.
ORIGINAL STORY: 12:11 p.m.
"Today's landmark ruling is a historic victory for life," Gov. Brian Kemp said in a tweet on Friday. "I look forward to its impact on the legal proceeding surrounding Georgia's LIFE Act, and hope our law will be fully implemented and ultimately rpotect countless unborn lives here in the Peach State."
Georgia currently has a so-called 'heartbeat bill' which effectively bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. That law has not taken effect due to a legal challenge.
Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said in a video statement "the overturning of Roe is the direct result of decades of strategy to strip women of access to reproductive health care, and full autonomy over our bodies."
“Today is a sad day for all Americans. After decades of attacks, abortion rights in the United States have been toppled and women will die because of this decision," said Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga). Read her full statement here.
“This Supreme Court decision sends the issue of abortion back to the states, which is where it belongs," Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker said in a press release. "I stand for life and Raphael Warnock stands for abortion.”
“I’ve always believed a patient’s room is too small a space for a woman, her doctor and the United States government,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga). “The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade ends a core protection for women to make their own health care decisions, and is a departure from our American ideals to recognize and protect basic rights. This misguided decision is devastating for women and families in Georgia and nationwide.”
This story will be updated throughout the day.
