Mississippi Law Regulating Second-Trimester Abortions Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 05 Jun 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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US District Judge Tom Lee on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a Mississippi law that required all abortions on women who are more than 13 weeks pregnant to be performed in licensed hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers, the... Los Angeles Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 6/2). Before May 2004, when Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) signed the law, state law allowed abortions to be performed at clinics until 16 weeks' gestation. Two months after Barbour signed the law, Lee issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law in response to a federal lawsuit filed by the Jackson Women's Health Organization in Jackson, Miss., which is the only abortion clinic in the state. In the suit, JWHO said the statute violates the privacy rights of women seeking abortions. In addition, JWHO President Susan Hill said the clinic has applied for an ambulatory surgical center license every two years since it opened in 1995, but the state has said that it provides no such license. In his July 2004 ruling, Lee said he did not think any abortion clinic in Mississippi could meet the law's requirements (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 7/26/04).

Ruling Details
In Wednesday's ruling, Lee said the law would have prevented JWHO from qualifying as an ambulatory surgical facility, barring the clinic from providing second-trimester abortions, the AP/Biloxi Sun Herald reports. He added that the law was created "for reasons wholly unrelated to any actual safety or health concerns" and that the state knew the abortion clinic was not licensed as a hospital or ambulatory surgical center and no hospitals in the state made abortions readily available. As a result, the law would make abortions "effectively unavailable in the state of Mississippi beyond the first trimester," Lee said, adding that the lack of access to abortion "is unconstitutional as a matter of law" (AP/Biloxi Sun Herald, 6/1). The state argued that the law is constitutional, in part because of a law signed by Barbour earlier this year that will allow JWHO to apply for a license to become an ambulatory surgical center. Under the measure -- which was created at the request of the governor following Lee's preliminary injunction -- JWHO must gain the appropriate certification and equipment or it will not be allowed to perform second-trimester abortions (Goodman, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 6/2). However, Lee said without ruling the law unconstitutional, women in the state would have been left without access to second-trimester abortions until the new law takes effect on July 1. Bonnie Scott Jones, an attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights who represented JWHO in the lawsuit, said it is unclear if there will be another legal challenge or if JWHO can comply with the new regulations (AP/Biloxi Sun Herald, 6/1). Assistant Attorney General Jacob Ray said his office plans to ask Lee to "correct, clarify and/or reconsider the opinion."

Reaction
"This was a really important decision, especially for the women of Mississippi," Hill said (Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 6/2). Scott Jones said, "We are extremely gratified by today's ruling. Mississippi's abortion laws are already among the most restrictive in the country," adding, "This latest legislation was just another example of anti-choice politicians professing to protect women's health while relentlessly passing legislation that cuts off their access to health care services" (CRR release, 6/1). However, Pro-Life Mississippi President Terri Herring said, "If we're going to claim to have safe, legal abortion, the least we can do is make it safe. Unless these clinics stop at first trimester, they're not safe," adding, "And they're never safe for unborn children" (AP/Biloxi Sun Herald, 6/1).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.