Federal Judge Thwarts Mississippi Law Illegalising Abortion after 13 Weeks

JACKSON, July 26, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge overturned Friday a new Mississippi law that would have made abortions performed after 13 weeks gestation illegal. The new legislation made abortions illegal after 13 weeks except when committed at hospitals or ambulatory surgical clinics—neither of which perform abortions in the state.  U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee upheld a temporary injunction issued on July 2, after one of the two state abortuaries, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, challenged the law that came into effect July 1. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization is trying to attain the status of a ambulatory surgical center in the meantime.  “This is a sad day for all pro-life Mississippians,” Gov. Haley Barbour said after the decision. “I will support all available legal means to ensure that this law will ultimately prevail and begin providing better care for mothers and more protections for the unborn.”  Terri Herring, president of Pro-Life Mississippi, said the ruling would continue to put Mississippi women’s lives at risk. “They will continue to lose their unborn children and possibly their lives,” Herring said.  Mississippi has fought abortion more successfully than most US states: in the 1980s and 1990s, laws were enacted mandating a 24-hour cool-off period between an abortion request and the procedure, as well as the enacting of parental consent laws. In 1996, then-Gov. Kirk Fordice required that doctors performing more than 10 abortions per month register their practices as abortion clinics. Partial-birth abortions were banned there in 1997.  Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:  Mississippi High Court Upholds ‘Personhood’ of Unborn   https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/aug/03082504.html   tv