Georgians Directly Harmed by State’s Abortion Ban Share Their Stories in Court Filing

People directly harmed by Georgia’s six-week abortion ban shared their harrowing stories in an amicus brief filed recently in a court case challenging the ban. 

Accounts by women who were denied or delayed urgently needed abortion care, as well as by the sister of Candi Miller—a Georgia woman whose tragic and preventable death was connected to the state’s abortion ban by Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee—are included in the brief. 

The case, SisterSong v. State of Georgia, was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners.

Filed by the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, the amicus (“friend of the court”) brief  illustrates in stark detail how Georgia’s abortion ban imperils patients’ lives and health and damages families—and urges the Court to strike down the ban, which took effect in July 2022.

In the brief, the women discuss their dire pregnancy complications including PPROM (preterm premature rupture of membranes, in which the patient’s water breaks prematurely), severe anemia, prematurely dilated cervix, and fatal fetal conditions. One woman described how hospital staff took her off antibiotics in hopes of causing her to develop a life-threatening infection that would allow the staff to provide abortion care under Georgia’s ban.

Excerpts from the brief:

• “Amici curiae are people impacted by Georgia’s abortion ban: Amanda Gibson, Avery Davis Bell, Katherine Stratton, Nicole and Alycia Coles, and Turiya Tomlin-Randall. Amici are not alone—they are only a small sample of the many families who have been devastated by Georgia’s abortion ban. . . They submit this brief to impress upon this Court the dire consequences of Georgia’s abortion ban for all Georgians—including those who face severe medical complications and those who want to have children safely.” 
• “The life-and-death experiences of the Georgia families documented in this amicus brief demonstrate that Georgia’s abortion ban is putting lives in danger. Doctors are hamstrung by legal uncertainty in the face of rapidly changing medical conditions during pregnancy. The ban deprives doctors of the clarity and discretion needed to make urgent determinations to save people from not only physical harm and death, but also lifelong trauma from pregnancy complications.”
• “Although amici represent different backgrounds, political persuasions, religious affiliations, and views on abortion, they unanimously agree on two things: Georgia’s abortion ban endangers people’s lives and health and doctors are not to blame for such harms. Amici implore this Court to sit squarely with reality: Georgia’s abortion ban is endangering lives and devastating families.” 

Read the full brief here.

Case Background 

The Center and its partners filed SisterSong v. State of Georgia in July 2022, arguing that the state’s six-week abortion ban, H.B. 481, violates the fundamental right to privacy in Georgia’s constitution. Additionally, the ban violated Roe v. Wade when it was enacted in 2019—making it void from inception under the state constitution, regardless of the subsequent change to federal law. 

On September 30, 2024, the Superior Court of Fulton County blocked the ban, ruling it unconstitutional, with the judge stating, “Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy.”  

However, just a week later, after an appeal by the state Attorney General, the Georgia Supreme Court stayed the lower court’s decision and reinstated the ban pending the state’s appeal.

Read more about the case here. 

Update: On February 20, 2025, the Georgia Supreme Court vacated the district court’s ruling and remanded the case to the district court for reconsideration of the plaintiffs’ standing to bring their claims.