Governor Kemp signs Georgia LIFE Act banning most abortions after six weeks, before most women know they are pregnant

On May 7, 2019, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed House Bill 481, the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, prohibiting abortion after detection of fetal cardiac activity at approximately six weeks of pregnancy — before most women know they are pregnant. The law included limited exceptions for rape or incest if a police report had been filed, medical emergencies, and fatal fetal anomalies. A federal judge blocked the law in July 2020; the 11th Circuit reversed that injunction in July 2022 following Dobbs, allowing the ban to take effect. The deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller in 2022 were later linked by a state maternal mortality committee to physician delays caused by the ban.