State bans abortion after 15 weeks

Mississippi’s governor signed the most restrictive abortion law in the nation Monday, banning the procedure after 15 weeks while providing no exemptions for rape or incest.

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant said he wants his state to be the “safest place in America for an unborn child.”

Within hours of signing the bill the state’s sole abortion clinic filed a lawsuit.

The new measure does provide exemptions if the pregnant woman’s life or “major bodily function” is threatened, or if the unborn child could not survive outside the womb.

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Prior to passage of the law, Mississippi was among 17 states that banned abortion after 20 weeks.

The lawsuit by the Jackson Women’s Health Organization contends the law is unconstitutional and violates other federal court rulings saying a state can’t restrict abortion before a child can survive on its own outside the womb, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“Under decades of United States Supreme Court precedent, the state of Mississippi cannot ban abortion prior to viability, regardless of what exceptions are provided to the ban,” the complaint states.

The Jackson clinic performed 78 abortions in 2017 when the fetus was identified as being 15 weeks or older, the lawsuit points out.

Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights said, according to the Tribune, that politicians “are not above the rule of law, and we are confident this dangerous bill will be struck down like every similar attempt before it.”

Katherine Klein, equality advocacy coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, insisted the bill is unconstitutional.

“The 15-week marker has no bearing in science. It’s just completely unfounded and a court has never upheld anything under the 20-week viability marker,” she said.

House Speaker Philip Gunn told the Associated Press he is proud Mississippi is taking steps to protect “the most vulnerable of human life.”

“The winners (today) are those babies that are in the womb, first and foremost,” Gunn said. “Those are the ones we’re trying to protect.”