January 30, 2025
Willkie has filed a brief at the Supreme Court of Georgia on behalf of individual amicus curiae impacted by H.B. 481, the state’s abortion ban. The brief urges the Georgia Supreme Court to affirm the Superior Court of Fulton County’s determination that the ban, which prohibits abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, is unlawful and puts lives in danger.
The brief includes four accounts from Georgians who faced severe medical complications during pregnancy and were denied timely access to urgently needed health care because of the state’s abortion ban. The brief also includes the account of the sister of Candi Miller, a Georgia woman who passed away after the ban took effect in 2022 and whose tragic and preventable death Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee connected to the ban. These personal stories show in stark detail that Georgia’s abortion ban imperils lives and causes patients and their families pain and suffering.
The brief supports Plaintiff-Appellees SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective et al., who successfully challenged the ban at the Superior Court. The Superior Court found that the right to abortion is protected under the Georgia constitution’s fundamental right to privacy and that Georgia’s pre-viability abortion ban harms Georgians’ health, lives and families. However, the Georgia Supreme Court stayed the Superior Court decision and reinstated the ban pending the state’s appeal. Oral argument is expected to take place this spring.
The Willkie pro bono team was led by counsel Mia Guizzetti Hayes and associate Amelia Putnam, and included counsel Emerson W. Girardeau III, associates Devin Charles Ringger, Sherry Xueer Yu, Serena Lau and Lindsay Kirschner, and law clerks Akarshna Premanand and Zachary Stern.
Read the full amicus brief here.
The brief includes four accounts from Georgians who faced severe medical complications during pregnancy and were denied timely access to urgently needed health care because of the state’s abortion ban. The brief also includes the account of the sister of Candi Miller, a Georgia woman who passed away after the ban took effect in 2022 and whose tragic and preventable death Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee connected to the ban. These personal stories show in stark detail that Georgia’s abortion ban imperils lives and causes patients and their families pain and suffering.
The brief supports Plaintiff-Appellees SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective et al., who successfully challenged the ban at the Superior Court. The Superior Court found that the right to abortion is protected under the Georgia constitution’s fundamental right to privacy and that Georgia’s pre-viability abortion ban harms Georgians’ health, lives and families. However, the Georgia Supreme Court stayed the Superior Court decision and reinstated the ban pending the state’s appeal. Oral argument is expected to take place this spring.
The Willkie pro bono team was led by counsel Mia Guizzetti Hayes and associate Amelia Putnam, and included counsel Emerson W. Girardeau III, associates Devin Charles Ringger, Sherry Xueer Yu, Serena Lau and Lindsay Kirschner, and law clerks Akarshna Premanand and Zachary Stern.
Read the full amicus brief here.
