The post-Roe Georgia starts to take shape
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People march in Downtown Atlanta to protest the Supreme Court's ruling that overturned the landmark 50-year-old Roe v. Wade case. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
Georgians opposed to the U.S. Supreme Court's Friday decision to overturn Roe v. Wade protested over the weekend as the state waited for its abortion law to take effect.
What's happening: Friday afternoon, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr formally requested the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on a lawsuit that stalled the state's so-called 2019 "heartbeat bill."
- That lawsuit, SisterSong v. Kemp, has been stuck pending the Supreme Court's decision.
The bottom line: The opinion could come at any minute and would be posted here. On Friday, a court spokesperson told Axios Atlanta that they do not comment on the court's schedule.
State of play: District attorneys in several counties including DeKalb and Fulton said they would not prosecute people accused of violating the state's law when it takes effect.
What they're saying: Speaking to reporters Friday after the ruling, Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari called on local governments across Georgia to follow Atlanta's lead and ask their police departments to make enforcing anti-abortion laws a low priority.
- "We can set our own priorities and enforcement and do everything we can to protect women, trans and non binary individuals seeking abortions," she said at a news conference outside City Hall.
Mayor Andre Dickens supports the non-binding resolution sponsored by Bakhtiari, who says the city is within its rights to ask police not to devote resources to enforcing the state's abortion law.
What's next: As Axios' Tina Reed reports, the Roe reversal pivots the fight over abortion access to state efforts to restrict medication abortions or "abortion pills."
Catch up quick: These FDA-approved pills account for more than half of abortion procedures. In December, the government lifted long-standing restrictions, making the pills more widely available, including via telemedicine appointments and online prescribing that enables delivery to someone's door.
Zoom in: Georgia is one of 20 states to have introduced legislation to ban abortion pills-by-mail. That bill, introduced by GOP state Sen. and labor commissioner nominee Bruce Thompson, failed to get a vote on the House floor this year.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to show that legislation to ban abortion pills-by-mail failed to get a vote on the House floor, not that it failed to get a hearing.