Two Black women died recently in Georgia because they were unable to obtain basic abortion health care due to the fear of prosecution by hospitals and doctors under that state’s 6-week abortion ban. State legislatures in red states are imposing draconian laws, and when people try to get abortion access put on the ballot, the legislatures block their attempts. Democracy is strangled as people’s bodily autonomy is taken away.
However, a victory was won recently in Georgia when Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney struck down the state’s abortion ban as unconstitutional, leaving an earlier law allowing abortion up to 22 weeks in effect. The judge wrote in his ruling that “liberty in Georgia” includes “the power of a woman to control her own body . . . and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.” The judge wrote that “women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote.”
One of the reasons this victory came about was because grassroots organizations such as Sister Song Women of Color Reproduction Justice Collective and others filed a lawsuit against the State of Georgia, and the county judge took a firm stand on the side of justice.
“Today’s win was hard-fought and a significant step in the right direction towards achieving Reproductive Justice in Georgia” said Sister Song Director Monica Simpson.
“Georgia has an opportunity to ensure we are able to live beyond tragic circumstances, to ensure that physicians will be able to act in their expertise, and to ensure that no one else has to die unnecessarily,” said the Director of Feminist Women’s Healthcare Center.
The struggle continues. The ruling will be appealed by the State.
This case reveals that who we elect at the local and state levels is critically important, and when they do not represent our wishes, we organize to oppose them, and victory is possible.
Editor’s note: As we go to print, the Supreme Court has put on hold the abortion rights victory until the State of Georgia’s appeal has been heard.
Karel Riley works with the People’s Tribune, and its bilingual sister publication, Tribuno del Pueblo, as a writer and contributor on human rights and women’s issues. “I’ve been a feminist since early adulthood. As a clerical worker, I joined a union drive with AFSCME seeking comparable wages to men for female-dominated jobs, and we were partially successful. In the mid-80’s our union participated in the historic Hormel strike in Minnesota. Later, I joined others in support of a local welfare rights organization,” she says.
