Georgia attorney general appeals a judge's rollback of abortion ban

ATLANTA — Georgia’s Republican attorney general has appealed a judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s abortion ban.

Attorney General Chris Carr’s office filed a legal motion Wednesday asking the Georgia Supreme Court to reinstate the law banning most abortions after the first six weeks or so of pregnancy while the court considers the state’s appeal.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled Monday that the ban in place since 2022 violated women’s rights to liberty and privacy under Georgia’s state constitution. His decision rolled back abortion limits in the state to a prior law that allowed abortions until viability, roughly 22 to 24 weeks into a pregnancy.

Carr's office in its legal motion denounced McBurney's ruling as “barely veiled judicial policymaking.”

“There is nothing legally private about ending the life of an unborn child,” the court filing said.

Some Georgia clinic officials said they would begin accepting patients whose pregnancies are past six weeks’ gestation, though they're aware the ban could be reimposed quickly.

Carr's office noted in its notice of appeal filed Tuesday that the case goes straight to Georgia's highest court because it involves a challenge to the constitutionality of a state law.

The judge's ruling left 13 U.S. states with bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy and three that bar them after the first six weeks or so of pregnancy.