The Georgia Supreme Court moved to restore the state’s six-week abortion ban Monday, once again severely restricting the procedure as it considers an appeal in a long-running legal challenge to the law.
The ruling stays a lower court decision last week that had overturned Georgia’s abortion ban, allowing the procedure to be performed until the 22nd week of pregnancy. The state Supreme Court’s decision takes effect Monday at 5 p.m., making abortions illegal after six weeks of pregnancy, the earliest that fetal cardiac electrical activity can be detected and before many people know they are expecting.