Local, state officials react to Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 opinion that legalized abortion in America. Many states, including Georgia, are now expected to limit or ban abortion.

In 2019, the Georgia General Assembly approved the so-called “heartbeat bill” that would ban abortions once a physician could hear fetal cardiac activity. Fetal cardiac activity can be heard with an ultrasound after about six weeks of pregnancy, barely enough time for a person to learn they are pregnant. 

Abortion rights activists sued over the bill and the case has been held up in a federal district court of appeals as judges await the Supreme Court’s decision. With today’s opinion, the ACLU of Georgia said in a statement that “the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will likely soon take action to ultimately put Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban into effect.”

“The ACLU of Georgia is committed to using every tool at our disposal to keep abortion safe and legal in Georgia,” said Andrea Young, Executive Director of the ACLU of Georgia. “Women must be able to make these personal, private, decisions for themselves with their own families, their own faith and their own physicians without interference from politicians.”

Shortly after the announcement was made, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens issued the following statement:

“I am sickened by this decision that wrongly and immorally tells women that their bodies are not their own. The choice to have an abortion is one of the hardest decisions of many women’s lives. That choice is informed by a wide variety of factors, and government should not have a role in denying that choice.

“As a straight man, I have never been told by the government when, whether or how to start and raise my family. Make no mistake: this ruling will most grotesquely impact women of color and those who do not have the resources to travel to find safe and high-quality health care outside their communities where reproductive services are made illegal.

“I oppose this decision.”

Earlier this week, the Atlanta City Council passed a resolution stating that no city funds will be used to investigate abortion care and urged the Atlanta Police Department to make investigations of abortion care the lowest priority.

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) said in a media statement: “I’ve always believed a patient’s room is too small a space for a woman, her doctor and the United States government. The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade ends a core protection for women to make their own health care decisions, and is a departure from our American ideals to recognize and protect basic rights. This misguided decision is devastating for women and families in Georgia and nationwide.”

“Across the country, states have already passed dangerous and uncompromising restrictions that put politicians in charge of health care, instead of women and doctors,” continued Senator Reverend Warnock.“Our work to restore the right of women to determine and access their own care must continue. I’ll never back down from this fight because women should be able to make their own health care decisions.”

This story will be updated with more reactions as we get them.