A Mississippi judge on Tuesday rejected an abortion clinic’s request to temporarily block the state’s “trigger law” that would ban most abortions.
The law, which was passed in 2007, would ban abortion except in cases where a woman’s life is in danger or a pregnancy is caused by a rape reported to law enforcement. The law is set to take effect Thursday, weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the question of abortion to the states.
Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the state’s only abortion clinic, asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order, which would have allowed the clinic to remain open while the suit plays out in court.
Chancery Judge Debbra Halford rejected the clinic’s request, according to the Associated Press.
The clinic challenged the law three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Lawyers for Jackson Women’s Health argued that a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling said the state constitution invokes a right to privacy that “includes an implied right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.”
However, the state attorney general’s office said that ruling was based on the Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, both of which were overturned last month. The office said the state constitution does not recognize a right to abortion.
The Supreme Court decision striking down Roe came in response to a lawsuit brought by Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The clinic challenged a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks.
The ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization means each state will now be able to determine its own regulations on abortion, including whether and when to prohibit abortion.