Federal judges blocked six-week abortion bans in Georgia and Tennessee on Monday, CNN reports.
Judge Steve Jones, who previously temporarily blocked Georgia’s law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, permanently blocked the law from going into effect citing Supreme Court precedent on abortion rights.
"In sum, the undisputed material facts in this case lead to one, indisputable conclusion: that Section 4 of H.B. 481, by prohibiting a woman from terminating her pregnancy upon the detection of a fetal heartbeat, constitutes a pre-viability abortion ban," Jones wrote. "As this ban directly conflicts with binding Supreme Court precedent (i.e., the core holdings in Roe, Casey, and their progeny) and thereby infringes upon a woman's constitutional right to obtain an abortion prior to viability, the Court is left with no other choice but to declare it unconstitutional."
Tennessee, too:
Judge William Campbell temporarily blocked Tennessee’s six-week abortion law from going into effect on Monday after Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law earlier in the day.
"The Act will immediately impact patients seeking abortions and imposes criminal sanctions on abortion providers," he wrote, citing "the time-sensitive nature of the procedure."
The law was blocked after a lawsuit from the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
The groups "have demonstrated a strong or substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the restrictions (in the law) are unconstitutional under current law,” Campbell wrote.
Other states blocked too:
Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Ohio have had similar luck after passing their own six-week abortion bans.
Tennessee’s attorney general vowed to fight for the law in court.
Monica Simpson, the executive director of abortion care provider SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the lead plaintiff in the Georgia lawsuit, called Monday’s ruling “tremendous.”
"No one should have to live in a world where their body and reproductive decision-making is controlled by the state," she said in a statement. "And we will continue to work to make sure that is never a reality in Georgia or anywhere else."
