Challenge to Mississippi abortion law set for Monday

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Federal appeals court judges are set to hear arguments on Monday over a law in the state of Mississippi that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The law was signed by the state’s Republican Governor Phil Bryant in March last year but has not taken effect.

Mississippi’s only abortion clinic immediately sued the state and US District Judge Carlton Reeves temporarily blocked the law the day after Bryant signed it.

Attorneys for the state will ask the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Reeves’ ruling and let the law take effect.

However, attorneys for the clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organisation, plan to argue that the ruling was the correct one and should be left in place.

Reeves, in his ruling handed down last November, found that the Mississippi law “unequivocally” violates women’s constitutional rights because it bans abortion weeks before viability.

The US Supreme Court, in its landmark Roe v Wade ruling in 1973, said women have the right to terminate pregnancies until viability -- when a fetus can survive outside the womb.

Reeves wrote that viability must be determined by trained medical professionals, and the “established medical consensus” is that viability typically begins at 23 to 24 weeks after the pregnant woman’s last menstrual period.

Jackson Women’s Health Organisation does abortions through 16 weeks, according to owner Diane Derzis.

We want to hear from you! Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169, email us at editors@gleanerjm.com or onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.