Judge overturns Georgia’s ban on abortion around 6 weeks

By SUDHIN THANAWALA
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge has overturned Georgia’s ban on abortion starting around six weeks into a pregnancy. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s ruling Tuesday applies statewide. The ruling says the ban violated the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court precedent at the time it became law. The ban had been in effect since July. It prohibited most abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” is present. Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound in cells within an embryo that will eventually become the heart as early as six weeks. That means most abortions in Georgia were effectively banned at a point before many women knew they were pregnant.