Center Blocks Another State Abortion Ban

The Center for Reproductive Rights continues to use the power of law to block extreme and deceptive state laws that aim to deny women access to abortion care. In December, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Center’s victory striking down Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and in January, the full Fifth Circuit denied the state’s request to review that decision.  

Earlier last year, the Center and co-counsel also blocked Mississippi’s even more restrictive ban prohibiting abortion after just six weeks of pregnancy—before many even know they’re pregnant—as well as another six-week abortion ban in Georgia. 

In 2019, nine states passed  bans on abortion at various points in pregnancy—including Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Utah, and Alabama (which passed a total abortion ban). None of these laws are in effect, and the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners are fighting to keep it that way.  

These bans are part of an ongoing nationwide effort to legislate abortion out of existence. Since 2011, anti-abortion politicians have pushed through nearly 450 state laws restricting abortion. Those measures include not only attempts to ban abortion, but also laws that restrict abortion access at every point, including medically unnecessary requirements that restrict who and where abortion can be provided, requirements for biased counseling, and provisions that delay pregnant people from accessing abortion care or mandate that they make additional unnecessary trips to a provider. Over the years, these requirements have layered on top of one another to make abortion—one of the safest and most common outpatient procedures—more and more difficult to access.  

The Center is litigating against these restrictive laws to ensure that abortion remains a constitutional right for all Americans, regardless of where they happen to live.  

Click here for more information on the Center’s work in U.S. courts.