On Tuesday, Nov. 15, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled Georgia’s ban on abortions violated both the Constitution and a previous Supreme Court ruling.

The ban, which outlawed abortions after six weeks, was deemed void according to the laws in place when it was created three years ago. Though the state attorney general’s office filed an appeal, McBurney’s ruling goes into effect statewide immediately, with many clinics beginning to perform abortions as early as Nov. 16.

McBurney’s ruling was entirely based on invalidity of the law as it was signed into place while Roe v. Wade was still in effect, not on constitutional right to privacy.

We at The Spectator agree with this decision.

We believe that many people who agree with a total abortion ban only see it as a form of birth control. However, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 58% of women who had abortions in 2019 had never had one before while 43% combined had two or more.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 92.7% of abortions were performed at 13 weeks or less in 2019. That same year, 42.3% were early medical abortions, meaning they were performed through the use of a pill.

Approximately 7% of all abortions in 2019 were performed between 14 and 21 or more weeks, many of which are due to reasons such as fetal abnormalities that will lead to the child being unable to survive outside of the womb, dangers posed to the mother’s life or unavailability of access to abortions in the earlier weeks of pregnancy.

Many people against abortions believe in a total ban. We at The Spectator disagree with this, as we believe abortions should be allowed in all cases, especially in circumstances including sexual assault, incest, lack of finances and an unsafe living environment.

Georgia’s law itself is an issue as, according to the University of California San Francisco, “one in three people discover pregnancy at six weeks’ gestation or later, and about one in five discover pregnancy past seven weeks.”

Many women, especially those is disproportionate socio-economic positions, such as women of color, low income and younger women, do not know they are pregnant until after six weeks, and according to research by the CDC, these women are the ones primarily seeking access to abortions.

Not only do laws banning abortions strip away individual rights to bodily autonomy, they will have the worst effect on women who need them the most.

This editorial reflects the general opinion of The Spectator.