A federal judge on Tuesday struck down Mississippi’s recently passed 15-week abortion ban and insinuated in his written opinion that male judges should be excluded from ruling on abortion laws.
Judge Carlton Reeves, a district judge for the Southern District of Mississippi, found that the Gestational Age Act, which was signed into law by Governor Phil Bryant in March, “unequivocally” infringes upon a woman’s due-process rights under the 14th Amendment.
“The fact that men, myself included, are determining how women may choose to manage their reproductive health is a sad irony not lost on the court,” Reeves wrote. “As a man, who cannot get pregnant or seek an abortion, I can only imagine the anxiety and turmoil a woman might experience when she decides whether to terminate her pregnancy through an abortion. Respecting her autonomy demands that this statute be enjoined.”
Reeves, an Obama appointee, also called the state’s professed concern for the health of mothers “pure gaslighting,” citing its high rates of infant and maternal mortality.
“Its leaders are proud to challenge Roe but choose not to lift a finger to address the tragedies lurking on the other side of the delivery room, such as high infant and maternal mortality rates,” he wrote in a footnote.
The Jackson Women’s Health Center, the state’s only abortion provider, filed suit the day after the bill was signed into law, initiating a series of temporary blocks to the law that were set to expire on Monday.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which sued on behalf of the abortion provider, celebrated the court’s ruling as an affirmation of previous decisions that held bans on abortion prior to fetal viability unconstitutional.
“Our victory today means that women in Mississippi will maintain the ability to make their own decisions about whether and when to terminate a pregnancy,” said Nancy Northup, the group’s president and CEO.