Challenge to state's abortion ban to be argued before Georgia Supreme Court today

Abortion rights supporters rally in front of the Georgia state Capitol after the overturning of Roe. Wade by the US Supreme Court on June 25, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Georgia’s Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit over the state’s abortion restrictions that ban the procedure once fetal cardiac activity is detected in the womb, at roughly six weeks of pregnancy.

This latest hearing in the case, State of Georgia v. Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, et al., at the state’s highest court follows months of lower court battles over the abortion law last year. 

The six-week ban means most abortions are illegal in Georgia at a point before many people know they’re pregnant. H.B. 481 took effect in 2022, not long after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade abortion protections.