Judge blocks Mississippi 15-week abortion ban from going into effect

A federal judge Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order to keep Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, the most restrictive in the nation, from going into effect.

Monday, Gov. Phil Bryant signed HB 1510 into law, making it illegal in Mississippi for a woman to obtain an abortion after 15 weeks gestation. Mississippi's previous law restricted abortion access within the state to 20 weeks. The state's sole abortion clinic, Women's Health Organization, located in Jackson, does not perform abortions past 16 weeks. 

In his ruling Tuesday, Reeves said the restraining order would be in effect for 10 days. He asked for "expedited briefings" on whether the court should issue a "preliminary injunction and whether that relief should be consolidated with a trial on the merits."

In response to the new law, attorney Rob McDuff had filed a hearing request for a temporary restraining order on behalf of Women's Health Organization. 

Appearing via conference call in front of U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, McDuff said the ban was "unconstitutional," citing case law that included the landmark 1972 case of Roe v Wade. 

McDuff said a woman at 15 weeks gestation was scheduled to have an abortion at Women's Health Organization at 2 p.m. The new law would make that abortion impossible. If a temporary restraining order were not issued immediately, McDuff said, she would have been left with limited options. The clinic's next available appointment is in eight days, putting her past 16 weeks gestation and unable to obtain a legal abortion at the clinic. 

There are two other women at 15 weeks gestation who are scheduled to have abortions at the clinic next week.

McDuff argued the law would inflict “irreparable harm,” saying, “It is very clear under existing law that women have a right to make their own decision.”

Arguing on behalf of the state, Paul Barnes, special assistant to the attorney general, said Mississippi’s ban focused on what they perceive as a risk to women. Barnes said the “single greatest factor in determining risk of abortion is gestational age.”

“Abortions being performed at 12, 13, 14, 15, each of those weeks, the risk goes up,” Barnes said. “That is one of the harms this bill is designed to protect…risk increases exponentially from one week to the next.”

Last week, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine published a paper that said abortion, when conducted by a licensed professional, is a safe practice.

Barnes said the state’s position is that the “viability line is constantly moving,” adding, “When viability is the issue, then the state’s interest trumps the woman’s interest. It’s always moving in favor of the state’s authority, it’s never moving the other direction.”

“The more developed the fetus is, the state’s interest is stronger in protecting unborn life,” he said.

Viability has been scientifically proven to be between 23 and 24 weeks.

Reeves asked Barnes if viability was included in the state’s bill, noting that at 14 weeks, a fetus has “no chance of survival outside the womb.”

“If there is no viability the state has no real interest in telling a woman what to do with her body,” he said.

Barnes then said the state’s interest to “protect unborn life” “trumps the woman’s interest.”

McDuff said, under Barnes’ argument, he feared the state could attempt to “eviscerate” a woman’s right to choose.

“The state could continue to dial back the right to choose until it’s eviscerated,” he said. “They could abolish the right to choose.”