Governor signs bill banning abortions after 20 weeks

Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law Wednesday a bill that bans abortions at 20 weeks or more gestation, without exception for rape or incest.

One national group is calling the new law a dangerous and unconstitutional ban.

“The very few Mississippi women who may need to seek abortion services after 20 weeks already face extreme barriers to care, as the sole remaining abortion clinic in the state only provides abortion services through 16 weeks of pregnancy,” the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement. The group is engaged in legal battle against the state over another abortion-related law passed in 2012.

The 20-week abortion ban allows exemptions only in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or where it is determined the fetus has problems and no chance of survival.

“Today is an important day for protecting the unborn and the health and safety of women in Mississippi,” Bryant said after signing the bill. “Medical research shows that an unborn child can feel pain by not later than 20 weeks gestation, and research also shows that the risk of death and complications from an abortion increases significantly as a pregnancy progresses.”

The bill requires a physician to determine gestational age prior to an abortion.

Failure to comply with the law can be grounds for the revocation or restriction of a medical license or for the denial of reinstatement or renewal of a license.

Proponents, including House Judiciary B Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, author of the bill, said Mississippi was the last state in the Southeast that lacks such a ban on abortions past 20 weeks.

But Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said two years ago, politicians in Mississippi tried to use an underhanded law to close the only abortion clinic in the state.

“Now, these very same politicians have set their sights on shutting down exceptionally rare instances of abortion care after 20 weeks, of which there were only two in 2012,” Northup said. “It’s time for these politicians to stop passing laws that attack constitutionally protected women’s health care and finally focus on policies that would support the health, lives, and rights of Mississippi women and families.”

Attorneys for the Center for Reproductive Rights and for the state are scheduled to appear Monday before a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans in the state’s effort to lift a preliminary injunction blocking it from enforcing a 2012 law requiring abortion clinic doctors to have hospital privileges. Last year, U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan III allowed the law to go into effect, but he prevented the state from closing the clinic while it seeks to comply with the law.

Clinic owner Diane Derzis has said the clinic has been unable to get admitting privileges at local hospitals for its out-of-state physicians.

To contact Jimmie E. Gates, call (601) 961-7212 or follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.