After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Illegal

Mississippi

Mississippi is enforcing its trigger ban, which prohibits abortion in nearly all situations.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 15-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 20-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, 6-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Total Ban
  • Method Ban
  • Reason Ban
  • Telemedicine Ban
  • Trigger Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Notification Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

State Protections

Mississippi law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion. To the contrary, Mississippi’s policy preference is to ban abortion to the fullest extent of the law: “Abortion carries significant physical and psychological risks to the maternal patient, and these physical and psychological risks increase with gestational age.”1

Restrictions

On June 27, 2022, the Mississippi Attorney General certified the state’s trigger ban,2 which bans all abortions except to save the life of the pregnant person, or in cases of rape or incest that have been reported to law enforcement,3 following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.4 After being challenged in court,5 the trigger ban is currently in effect.6

Mississippi has not repealed other laws related to abortion. Mississippi law retains gestational bans at first detection of cardiac activity, usually six weeks LMP, fifteen weeks LMP, and twenty weeks LMP — all of which are still in effect.7 Mississippi prohibits D&E and D&X procedures and abortions sought for reasons of race, sex, or genetic anomaly.8 Mississippi law continues to include requirements that pregnant people must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period, biased counseling, and an ultrasound.9 Mississippi also limits both public funding10 and private insurance coverage of abortion.11 Mississippi law continues to require that both parents, a legal guardian, or a judge consent to a minor’s abortion.12

Mississippi retains targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) related to facilities,13 permanently enjoined admitting privileges,14 and reporting.15 Mississippi law continues to restrict the provision of abortion care to licensed physicians16 and still restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.17 Providers who violate Mississippi’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.18

Historical Restrictions

Mississippi also has an unenforced pre-Roe ban.19

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Mississippi is enforcing its trigger ban, which prohibits abortion in nearly all situations.

  1. Miss. Code Ann § 41-41-191 (2)(b)(ii). ↩︎
  2. Press Release, Miss. Sec’y of State, Mississippi Abortion Notice Published in Administrative Bulletin (June 27, 2022), https://www.sos.ms.gov/index.php/press/mississippi-abortion-notice-published-administrative-bulletin (citing Letter from Miss. Att’y Gen. to Miss. Sec’y of State (June 27, 2022), https://www.sos.ms.gov/adminsearch/ACProposed/00026438b.pdf); see also Ashton Pittman, Mississippi AG Certifies Trigger Law, Criminalizing Most Abortions By July 7, Miss. Free Press (June 27, 2022), https://www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-ag-certifies-trigger-law-criminalizing-most-abortions-by-july-7/ (discussing that trigger ban would become law ten days after publication in Administrative Bulletin). ↩︎
  3. Miss. Code Ann. § 41-41-45. ↩︎
  4. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 597 U.S. 215 (2022), rev’d Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., 945 F.3d 265 (5th Cir. 2019). ↩︎
  5. Jackson Women’s Health Organization v. Dobbs, No. 22-cv-00739 (Miss. Ch. Ct. Jun. 27, 2022). ↩︎
  6. Jackson Women’s Health Organization v. Dobbs, No. 22-cv-00739 (Miss. Ch. Ct. Jul. 5, 2022). ↩︎
  7. Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-41-34.1, 41-41-191, 41-41-137 (2024). ↩︎
  8. Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-41-155 (1); § 41-41-73 (1); § 41-41-407.s. 2020). ↩︎
  9. Miss. Code Ann.  §§ 41-41-33, 41-41-34. ↩︎
  10. Miss. Code Ann. § 41-41-91. ↩︎
  11. Miss. Code Ann.  § 41-41-99. ↩︎
  12. Miss. Code Ann. § 41-41-53. ↩︎
  13. Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-75-1 et seq. ↩︎
  14. Miss. Code Ann. § 41-75-1(f), invalidated by Jackson Women’s Health Org. v. Currier, 760 F.3d 448 (5th Cir. 2014), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 2536 (mem) (2016); see also Jackson Women’s Health Org. v. Currier, 320 F. Supp. 3d 828 (S.D. Miss. 2018. ↩︎
  15. Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-41-77, 41-41-109. ↩︎
  16. Miss. Code Ann.  § 97-3-3 (1). ↩︎
  17. Miss. Code Ann.  § 41-41-107 (3). ↩︎
  18. See, e.g., Miss. Code Ann. §§ 41-41-45(4) (establishing that providers who violate the state’s total abortion ban can be punished with up to ten years of imprisonment); 41-41-191(6) (establishing that providers who violate the state’s fifteen-week ban can face civil penalties of up to $500 per violation and license suspension or revocation). ↩︎
  19. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-3. ↩︎