Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Monday certified the state’s 2007 trigger law banning abortion except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger or a rape has been reported to law enforcement.
The law will not officially take effect until 10 days from Monday. Officials at Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s sole abortion clinic, have promised to continue providing services as long as the law allows.
“Mississippi’s laws to promote life are solid and thanks to the Court’s clear and strong opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, they can now go into effect,” said Fitch. “As we have said throughout this case, Roe v. Wade presented a false choice between a woman’s future and her child’s life. As we proceed in this post-Roe world, the people of Mississippi and of all the states will be able to fully engage in the work of both empowering women and promoting life. I am grateful that the Court has given us this opportunity.”
Abortion has been banned or mostly banned in 10 states following the Court’s ruling last week. Mississippi is one of 5 states that will be added to that list in the coming days through legislation yet to go into effect.
Mississippi law required Fitch to first publish her determination that Roe is overturned and second that it is “reasonably probable” the law would be upheld by the Court as constitutional.
The move came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade. The ruling stemmed from a case that originated in Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
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