A lawsuit challenging Georgia’s abortion restrictions is moving through the state court system after a two-day trial in Atlanta last month. The plaintiffs’ main argument centers on the state’s individual privacy protections, which are stronger than the federal ones that underlined Roe v. Wade abortion access guarantees.
The word privacy is not actually in the state constitution, but a landmark 1905 Georgia Supreme Court case called Pavesich v. New England Life Insurance Company recognized a sweeping right of individuals to keep their lives shielded from unjustified state intervention.
“And so the Georgia Supreme Court came up with this rule that basically said that we all have this inherent right to shield ourselves from the public eye and from the public gaze,” said Georgia State University Assistant Professor of Law Anthony Kreiss.
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