ATLANTA — A Fulton County Superior Court judge on Monday said the state can continue enforcing Georgia’s new abortion law while a challenge of the law makes its way through the courts.
Abortion rights advocates and providers had asked Judge Robert McBurney in a hearing last week to grant a temporary restraining order that would block the recently enacted law, which bans most abortions once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, typically about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.
In his order, McBurney dismissed the request for a temporary restraining order, saying state law only allows him to block a law from being enforced if he has already ruled that the statute is unconstitutional. McBurney has been asked to determine the constitutionality of the law. He has not yet ruled on the issue.
