Georgia abortion providers wary after court strikes down ban

ATLANTA (AP) — Abortion providers in Georgia resumed performing the procedure beyond six weeks of pregnancy this week after a judge threw out the state's abortion ban. But some said they are moving cautiously amid an ongoing legal fight that could just as quickly restore the restrictions.

Phone calls to the carafem clinic in Atlanta surged starting Tuesday, when the judge's ruling came out. The clinic resumed providing abortions up to 13 weeks of pregnancy on Wednesday, but staff has cautioned patients that the situation is “tenuous," chief operations officer Melissa Grant said.

“We will continue to take it as it is right now and take it a day at a time and an hour at a time if that’s what it requires,” she said in a phone interview.

The Feminist Women's Health Center, also in Atlanta, plans to resume abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy starting on Friday. It has added another day to its abortion schedule and is also looking for an additional provider, said MK Anderson, the clinic’s director of development and communications.

But Anderson said it's not scheduling appointments more than a few days out right now over concerns a court could abruptly reinstate the state's ban, which started roughly six weeks into pregnancy.

Explaining the current fluidity of Georgia's abortion landscape is hard on staff.

“It’s like this roller coaster conversation we have to have with our patients, and that can be emotionally difficult,” Anderson said.

Planned Parenthood Southeast on Wednesday resumed scheduling patients at four Georgia health centers for medication abortion up to 11 weeks, consistent with the services it offered prior to the ban, spokesperson Amy Kennedy said.

The organization is also working to expand abortion options at its health centers.

“We remain committed to...