A judge in Mississippi declined a request Tuesday from the state’s only abortion clinic to block a trigger law that bans most abortion procedures in the state from taking effect.
The law was passed in the state’s legislature in 2007 and bans all abortions, with exceptions for when a woman’s life is in danger or if the pregnancy is caused by a rape that has been reported to law enforcement, though there are no exceptions for incest.
Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s only abortion clinic, sued state officials last month to challenge the ban, arguing such procedures are protected under state Supreme Court precedent. The lawsuit was filed by the same clinic at the core of the case that resulted in the overturning of Roe v. Wade last month, when the highest court in the land issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The trigger law will go into effect on Thursday as a result of the ruling in Dobbs, which allowed states to impose abortion restrictions.
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The clinic asked Mississippi Chancery Judge Debbra K. Halford to block the law because the state’s constitution “includes an implied right to choose whether or not to have an abortion,” pointing to a 1998 ruling from the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Halford wrote Tuesday that a “plain wording of the Mississippi Constitution does not mention abortion,” adding that it is doubtful the state Supreme Court would uphold the 1998 ruling in the wake of the monumental ruling overturning Roe.
“These bans should have been blocked today. They violate the Mississippi constitution,” said Hillary Schneller, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents the clinic in the case.
“People in Mississippi who need abortions right now are in a state of panic, trying to get into the clinic before it’s too late. No one should be forced to live in fear like that,” Schneller said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Jackson Women’s Health Organization is slated to close its doors on Wednesday. A secondary attorney for the clinic, Rob McDuff, said the legal team is reviewing the judge’s ruling and considering further options.
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Proponents of abortion access have filed lawsuits in at least 11 states, including West Virginia, Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, Florida, and Mississippi. Similar trigger laws in Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, and Utah have been temporarily blocked.
When Supreme Court justices returned a ruling in Dobbs on June 24, they did not outlaw abortion nationwide. Rather, they allowed states to impose laws severely limiting or restricting abortion procedures.
