FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 5, 2022
CONTACTS:
ACLU: [email protected]
ACLU of Georgia: [email protected]
CRR: [email protected]
PPFA: [email protected]
PPSE: [email protected]
SisterSong: [email protected]
Abortion Providers, Advocates, and Litigators will Answer Questions at the Courthouse Immediately After the Hearing, Register Here to Join via Zoom
WHAT:
The Superior Court of Fulton County will hold a hearing on abortion providers and advocates’ request for a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit challenging certain provisions of H.B. 481, which bans abortion at six weeks of pregnancy–before many people even know they are pregnant. The state challenge, filed July 26, comes after a federal appeals court allowed Georgia’s six-week ban to take effect for the first time since it was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019. After the hearing, litigators and plaintiffs challenging the ban will hold an in-person and virtual press conference.
WHEN:
Monday, August 8; 4 p.m. ET.
WHERE:
Judge Robert C.I. McBurney will hear the case in courtroom 8-D of the Lewis R. Slaton Courthouse, 136 Pryor Street, Atlanta, GA 30303. The courtroom will be open to the public and the hearing may be live streamed on Judge Robert McBurney’s YouTube channel here.
Register to join the post-hearing press conference virtually here: https://aclu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_q9J2EhsoR6-U7IGLgeuvXA
WHO:
Providers, attorneys and advocates will take questions on the courthouse steps immediately after the hearing around 5:30 p.m. To join via Zoom, register here. Journalists on Zoom may submit questions in the Q&A or by sending to [email protected].
DETAILS:
The state court challenge filed asserts that (1) Georgia’s six-week ban was void from the start under Georgia judicial precedent because it clearly violated federal constitutional precedent when enacted in 2019, and a subsequent change in federal law cannot revive it; and (2) the Georgia Constitution’s especially strong protection for the fundamental right to privacy prohibits this political interference with an individual’s deeply personal and medically consequential decision whether to continue a pregnancy. Doctors and advocates are asking the state court to immediately block the law while the lawsuit proceeds in the state courts. The lawsuit also includes a state constitutional challenge to a provision of Georgia law, expanded by H.B. 481, which violates Georgians’ privacy rights by giving prosecutors unfettered access to abortion patients’ private medical records without any due process.
A copy of the lawsuit can be found online here: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/sistersong-v-georgia-complaint
A copy of plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary injunction can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/sistersong-v-georgia-motion-temporary-restraining-order
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