In his State of the State Address in 2014, Gov. Phil Bryant announced a goal: “to end abortion in Mississippi.”
Bryant has now signed a law that makes his state the most difficult state in the country to get an abortion. It is called the Gestational Age Act, and it bans abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, except in the case of a medical emergency or a severe fetal abnormality. The law does not make exceptions in cases of rape or incest. The Mississippi House passed the measure on March 8, and Bryant signed it into law on Monday.
The Associated Press reports that Mississippi’s only abortion clinic has sued the state in response to the legislation. In 2012, that same clinic, The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, filed a lawsuit challenging a different bill Bryant signed into law. That bill enacted stricter requirements for abortion facilities, including a requirement that all physicians associated with an abortion facility have the right to admit patients to a local hospital. It was eventually blocked by a federal district court in 2013.
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