Mississippi Is One Step Away From Banning Abortion After 15 Weeks
PoliticsMississippi, a state with just one remaining abortion provider, has moved one step closer to effectively banning the procedure in the state. Earlier this week, the state legislature passed a bill, HB 1510, which bans abortion 15 weeks after a person’s last period, making exceptions only in case of “medical emergency and in cases of severe fetal abnormality;” there are no exceptions for rape or incest. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to sign the bill into law:
Roe v. Wade established a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion until at least until fetal viability, which is considered to be around 24 weeks by physicians. In 2014, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal for a 2012 Arizona law banning abortion at 20 weeks, which was deemed unconstitutional by a federal appeals court panel. Nonetheless, anti-abortion activists who peddle the myth that the fetus can feel pain by 20 weeks have enacted 20-week-abortion bans in 21 states. If signed into law, Mississippi’s 15-week ban would be an egregious addition the trend.