ATLANTA — Paolo Pavesich was surprised to find his picture in an advertisement for New England Mutual Life Insurance. The Atlanta artist didn’t have a policy from New England Life, and he’d never given the company permission to use his image. Pavesich sued, alleging invasion of privacy. And he won.
Today, that ruling from 1903 may have unlikely repercussions: It could prove pivotal in deciding the fate of abortion in Georgia.
If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade — as a leaked draft opinion suggested it was poised to do — then some Georgia abortion rights supporters plan to embrace a strategy that would throw the decision to the state’s top court. With its ruling in the Pavesich case, the Georgia court became the first of its kind to recognize an enforceable right to privacy, the same right at the center of the Roe decision.
“People don’t think of Georgia as progressive, but we have some of the strongest privacy protections,” said state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democratic candidate for attorney general.
Jordan said if she is elected, she will file a lawsuit in state court rooted in the state’s privacy precedents. Legal experts from both sides of the political aisle said it would have a legitimate chance of success.