GA Judge Invokes the "Handmaid's Tale" in Striking Down Abortion Law

Lots of pop in this fresh opinion, written by Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney. The ruling is part of the ongoing legal challenges to Georgia’s “fetal heartbeat” law. Where it goes from here is a bit unclear — but for now the law has been struck down on liberty / privacy and equal protection grounds. 

The mic drop quote:

“It is not for a legislator, a judge, or a Commander from The Handmaid’s Tale to tell these women what to do with their bodies during this period when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb any more so than society could – or should – force them to serve as a human tissue bank or to give up a kidney for the benefit of another.”

And of course, this is all very timely coming on the heels of the ProPublica report on deaths caused by lack of access to legal abortion services. 

Another important examination in the ruling is perfect, answering a common (and empty) anti-choicer favorite hit :

“First, the State asserts that the right to privacy has never included the right to have an abortion.

While this is true on a tritely literalistic level -- the word “abortion” is indeed nowhere to be found in the Georgia Constitution -- that position misstates the question: does a Georgian’s right to liberty of privacy encompass the right to make personal healthcare decisions? Plainly it does.”

Full opinion is here: www.documentcloud.org/...