By Rebecca Grapevine Staff Reporter Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion law Wednesday, finding the ban on abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat at around six weeks is legal.
The victory for Gov. Brian Kemp and other pro-life Georgians was made possible by last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that overruled Roe v. Wade and found that there is no constitutional right to abortion.
Georgia’s General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 banning most abortions in Georgia after a fetal heartbeat could be detected – usually around six weeks of pregnancy.
Now that the appellate court has upheld the law, it takes effect immediately, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the groups that challenged the law.
The ACLU called the court’s move to reinstate the law immediately “highly unorthodox,” saying normally the court would wait 28 days to issue a mandate.
“The court took this action on its own, without any request from the state, and outside of the normal court procedures,” the group stated. “This means the state’s six-week ban takes effect today, pushing abortion out of reach for Georgians before many even know they’re pregnant.”
The ACLU, SisterSong, Planned Parenthood, and other reproductive care providers initially successfully sued to block the law from taking effect in U.S. District Court in 2020. The state then appealed that decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Late last week, both sides in the Georgia case filed new briefs laying out their arguments in light of the Supreme Court ruling. Wednesday’s decision confirms that the Georgia law will stand and reiterates the Supreme Court’s position that there is no constitutional right to an abortion.
Abortion rights advocates criticized the ruling.
“Across the state, providers are now being forced to turn away patients who thought they would be able to access abortion, immediately changing the course of their lives and futures. This is horrific,” the ACLU – joined by other plaintiffs in the case – said in a statement Wednesday. “We’ll continue doing everything in our power to fight for abortion access in Georgia in the face of these harmful attacks on people’s ability to control if and when to have a child.”
Kemp praised the decision for finally allowing Georgia’s heartbeat law to take effect.
“As mothers navigate pregnancy, birth, parenthood, or alternative options to parenthood – like adoption – Georgia’s public, private, and nonprofit sectors stand ready to provide the resources they need to be safe, healthy, and informed,” the governor said.
“It is the constitutional duty of the Georgia Attorney General to defend the laws of our state,” Attorney General Chris Carr added. “Today, our arguments have prevailed, meaning the Eleventh Circuit has allowed Georgia’s LIFE Act to take effect immediately.”
State Sen. Jen Jordan, the Democrat challenging Carr on the November ballot, said the battle over abortion rights isn’t over.
“The U.S. Supreme Court said this fight belongs in the states, so we must challenge this law in the state courts, and we must elect state leaders who will protect access to reproductive health care,” she said. “That’s why I’m running for Georgia Attorney General.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Rudy Giuliani urges Georgia Senate members to pick the state’s Electoral College electors at a hearing on Dec. 3, 2020. (Georgia Senate video)
ATLANTA – A Fulton County judge Wednesday ordered former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to testify before the special grand jury investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Giuliani, former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, must appear before the grand jury on Aug. 9, according to an order handed down by Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney.
Giuliani was among the witnesses who testified before the Georgia Senate during a hearing at the state Capitol in December 2020. He and others blamed Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia on widespread voter fraud, allegations that have been disproven.
Giuliani presented a video of election workers at State Farm Area in Atlanta producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots, a video that was quickly debunked by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office.
The special grand jury issued a subpoena to Giuliani late last month, which Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis submitted to a court in Giuliani’s home state. When he failed to appear at a July 13 hearing, a New York judge ordered him to testify before the Fulton County special grand jury.
Willis has cast a wide net for witnesses in recent weeks. Wednesday’s order concerning Giuliani came one day after a lawyer for 11 of the 16 Georgia Republicans who formed an alternate slate of electors for Trump in December 2020 filed a motion to quash subpoenas ordering them to testify. The other five also have been subpoenaed to appear before the special grand jury.
Others subpoenaed to testify include U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro, and state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
Graham and Hice are fighting their subpoenas, while Jones has filed a motion to disqualify Willis, a Democrat, alleging she has a conflict of interest. A hearing on that motion is set for Thursday.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, already has testified before the panel, and Gov. Brian Kemp is due to sit for a deposition this month.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Japanese manufacturer of a type of copper foil used in printed electronics will build its North American headquarters in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
Denkai America is making an initial investment of $150 million on a 115-acre site in Richmond County. Ultimately, the company will spend $430 million on a headquarters and manufacturing plant, creating 250 jobs during the next five years.
Denkai America’s products have traditionally been used in printed circuit board applications, primarily for the aerospace and defense industries, but are also now used in the lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles.
“Georgia is proud to be selected as the home of Denkai America, further strengthening our state’s status as a leader in the emerging electric mobility and existing aerospace, defense, and technology industries,” Kemp said.
“We have been laser focused on bringing quality jobs to highly trained, hardworking Georgians across the state, and we look forward to seeing one-of-a-kind companies like Denkai thrive in Georgia’s top-ranking pro-business environment.”
“We are thrilled to expand our manufacturing presence into Augusta, which has the skilled and talented work force our company needs for growth,” added Nobu Masuda, Denkai America’s president and CEO.
Construction is expected to begin in September as the first part of a three-phase investment, and the facility will be fully operational by December 2024.
The company will be hiring skilled industrial technicians, production managers, and engineers. Interested applicants can learn more and apply at https://denkaiamerica.isolvedhire.com/jobs/
The state Department of Economic Development worked with the Augusta Economic Development Authority, Georgia Power, and the Technical College System of Georgia’s Quick Start program to land the project.
“As the adoption of electric mobility becomes widespread, the state of Georgia is committed to harnessing this generational opportunity to ensure that Georgians employed in today’s automotive industry will have access to these jobs of the future here at home,” Georgia Commissioner of Economic Development Pat Wilson said.
“This investment is also further evidence of how Georgia’s commitment to building lasting international relationships continues to drive economic partnerships across our state.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Eleven Georgia Republicans who cast “contingent” electoral votes for then-President Donald Trump in December 2020 are moving to quash subpoenas issued by a Fulton County special grand jury.
The 11, including state GOP Chairman David Shafer, filed a motion in Fulton Superior Court Tuesday arguing they were originally sought by the grand jury as witnesses and agreed to appear voluntarily. Only later did they receive subpoenas identifying them as targets of the panel’s investigation surrounding the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
“The abrupt, unsupportable, and public elevation of all 11 nominee electors’ status wrongfully converted them from witnesses who were cooperating voluntarily and prepared to testify in the grand jury to persecuted targets of it,” the motion stated.
“In light of the escalation, counsel advised the elector nominees to invoke their federal and state constitutional and statutory rights not to provide substantive testimony to the grand jury, advice they have reluctantly accepted.”
The 11 were among 16 Republican electors who met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, the same day a slate of Democratic electors met inside the same building to cast their Electoral College votes for Democrat Joe Biden, who had carried Georgia the month before.
At the time, Shater said Republicans picked their own Electoral College members because Trump’s lawsuit challenging the election results was still pending, an argument repeated in Tuesday’s motion.
The motion went on to assert that both state and federal law protect electors’ rights to cast contingent ballots and that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the special grand jury lack jurisdiction to determine the validity of presidential election ballots, which are “inseparably connected” to the federal government.
The 11 Republican electors are just the latest targets of the grand jury probe Willis’ office launched last year.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer; Trump campaign lawyer John Eastman; and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., were subpoenaed earlier this month.
Subpoenas also have been issued to key Trump allies U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro, and state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.
Graham, Hice and Jones have all sought to quash their subpoenas. A hearing on Jones’ motion is set for Thursday in Fulton Superior Court.
Staff writer Rebecca Grapevine contributed to this report.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Gender-affirming surgery includes procedures that help transgender people transition to their self-identified gender.
Georgia Medicaid had barred insurance coverage for gender-affirming surgery since 1993. The new settlement means that the Medicaid program will now cover the surgeries going forward.
The lawsuit started last year when two women enrolled in Medicaid sued the state Department of Community Health (DCH) because they were denied coverage for their gender-affirming surgeries – which had been recommended by their physicians and mental-health providers.
Aided by the ACLU, the women claimed their health had been harmed by their inability to have the procedures covered by Medicaid.
Now middle-aged, both women were born male but started identifying as female at a young age, according to the complaint they filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The complaint states that both women suffered mental health consequences because of their inability to get gender-affirming surgery.
They claimed that the bar on the procedures amounted to discrimination on the basis of their sex and transgender status.
The complaint pointed out that other insurers, including the federal Medicare program, typically cover gender-affirming surgery.
The resulting settlement, announced Monday, will now require Georgia Medicaid to cover gender-affirming procedures and adopt new clinical guidelines for when the gender-affirming surgery will be approved.
“Gender-affirming surgeries are safe, effective, and medically necessary,” said Taylor Brown, a staff attorney with the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project. “This settlement brings the state of Georgia’s Medicaid program in line with the accepted standards of care and the law. The removal of the exclusion of benefits … will save lives.
DCH officials declined to comment on the settlement.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
