Monday, November 14, 2022

Lawsuit Seeks to Ban Abortion in Mississippi

 The Mississippi Institute for Justice issued the following statement. 

The Mississippi Justice Institute (MJI) – a non-profit, constitutional litigation center and the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy – filed a lawsuit today on behalf of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) which seeks to put an end to court-imposed, elective abortion policy in the state that led the charge to overturn Roe v. Wade.

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overruling Roe v. Wade, which held that the U.S. Constitution protected a right to seek an abortion, and returned control of abortion policy from federal courts back to the states. But a similar opinion by the Mississippi Supreme Court, named Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice, still holds that abortion is a right protected by the Mississippi Constitution.

After Roe was overturned, Mississippi enacted a ban on elective abortions but the validity of that law is uncertain, given the Mississippi Supreme Court’s opinion in Fordice. As of today, elective abortions in Mississippi appear to be both statutorily illegal and constitutionally protected at the same time.

This legal uncertainty has placed Mississippi physicians in an impossible “Catch-22.” Several medical societies and board certification authorities have issued guidelines suggesting that it is unethical, and potentially punishable by the government, for physicians who oppose elective abortion to refuse to provide or refer patients to other providers for lawful, elective abortions. But whether elective abortions are “lawful” in Mississippi depends on whether the Mississippi Supreme Court’s opinion in Fordice is still valid.

That’s why AAPLOG partnered with MJI to file a lawsuit asking Mississippi’s courts to declare that abortion is not protected by the Mississippi Constitution.

“In the Dobbs case, Mississippi secured a major victory for human rights and the rule of law,” said MJI Director Aaron Rice. “Now it’s time to finish the job and protect the right to life in the state that took down Roe.”

AAPLOG is the largest organization of pro-life obstetrician-gynecologists in the world. AAPLOG includes obstetrician-gynecologists and other physicians, with over 6,000 medical professionals nationwide. AAPLOG members oppose elective abortion and are committed to the care and well-being of their patients including both pregnant women and their unborn children.

“We are proud to bring this important case on behalf of our members in Mississippi,” said Dr. Donna Harrison, the CEO of AAPLOG. “We believe that women and their unborn children deserve the best possible health care. Pro-abortion groups have tried for years to violate the conscience rights of our members by forcing them to provide elective abortions or refer patients to others for elective abortions. We hope to finally put an end to those intimidation tactics and to defend Mississippi’s elective abortion ban.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Chancery Court of Hinds County, Mississippi. Ultimately, the case will likely be decided by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

“It is a privilege to represent AAPLOG as they seek to protect the conscience rights of their members and the lives of the unborn,” said Andy Taggart, a founding partner of the law firm of Taggart, Rimes & Wiggins, PLLC, and an MJI volunteer attorney. “Mississippi has led the charge to protect life, and with this case, Mississippi will continue to lead the way.”

The Mississippi Justice Institute is a non-profit, constitutional litigation center and the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. It defends the personal, economic, and religious liberty of Mississippians in court to ensure that all forms of government are limited to their essential responsibilities as provided by the Constitution and to foster freedom and prosperity in the state.

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

Off to the dark ages we go.....

Anonymous said...

Hell, Let's go all in and bring back the old State flag while we're at it.

Anonymous said...

Keep alienating women and voters under 50, that’ll work great for the republicans. Kansas voters wouldn’t even go for an abortion ban and you think people actually want this? Get a clue.

Anonymous said...

I'm against abortion. I also think that if conservatives would express as much concern for children that are actually born, a lot of abortions would go away. By the way, the Mississippi suit that led to the overturning of Roe brought the liberals out in droves last week and cost conservatives a majority in congress. Always look out for those unintended consequences!

Anonymous said...

Mississippi Center for Public Policy - defending personal liberty and limiting government (selectively, and only when it doesn't conflict with their own personal beliefs. When that happens, all bets are off)

Anonymous said...

Legalized abortion creates a class of persons who have no rights at all. Shame on you all for all of the bloodlust.

Anonymous said...

Let’s go ahead and reinstate slavery while we are at it. The past was so great, why doesn’t everyone want to go backwards?

Anonymous said...

I know the Baptist churches are signing people up to support all the forced birth babies in the state .

Anonymous said...

Always ban murder, especially murder of convenience.

Anonymous said...


@2:26 PM

Here’s a crazy idea! Let’s make women responsible for their actions! Doing otherwise is admitting that women are basically children their entire lives and must be treated like children! If that is the case, that women shouldn’t be responsible for their actions like children, then we need to go ahead and repeal the 19th amendment! We can’t let children vote!

Anonymous said...

Based on the pro-abortion comments above, MS will always remain last in everything, losers.

Anonymous said...

@2:20...that was done in 1913 already.

Anonymous said...

Abortion was returned to the States to decide as it should have been all along. If you don't like the State's abortion laws and murdering babies is that important to you, then move to a State who allows it or travel just for an abortion to a State who offers it (there are plenty of resources to even pay for your trip) or rally support to change the State's abortion law, but quit hyperbolically acting like it's the end of women's rights or practice responsible sex by forcing your partners to wear protection or getting the free birth control methods that are available all over and not need an abortion at all. It's that simple.

Anonymous said...

You doofus, 20-something, indoctrinated youngsters have no understand of the recent Supreme Court ruling. You believe what you're told by your liberal professors and the girl outside at the table at Starbucks, the one with the black lipstick and nose ring. Nobody living in this state is prohibited from having an abortion. They simply might have to pack a sandwich and head across the state line.

Meanwhile: I really shudder to think a bunch of Mississippi Country-Ass lawyers have a role in these overall abortion decisions.

Anonymous said...

These people are really pushing for a blue wave, aren’t they?

As someone who isn’t a Republican (yes, I know some of you will clutch your pearls), I say go right ahead… I’m fine with y’all digging yourselves into a deeper hole.

Anonymous said...

2:00 pm Wrong. Reasons for abortion now is a lot different than when Roe V Wade went into effect. Not all, but many, many women now get abortions as birth control. If you think liberals came out just to vote on abortion you are mistaken. You watch too much liberal tv. They came out because they were put into panic mode about
" The GOP is destroying our democracy" and whatever else you robots were programmed to do.

Anonymous said...

The incredible thirst to murder children is beyond human sensibilities.This can't be justified to the God most people say they believe in. Our Creator will not ignore this.

Anonymous said...

"The incredible thirst to murder children is beyond human sensibilities.This can't be justified to the God most people say they believe in. Our Creator will not ignore this."

Exactly, how many of our liberal friends and Congressional leaders, primarily Catholics or Episcopalians, are pretending to be a Christian while also supporting the murder of babies? You can't be both pro-abortion and Christian. https://www.catholic365.com/article/4293/the-5-nonnegotiables-explained.html

Anonymous said...

@2:41pm And THAT is EXACTLY what this whole kerfuffle is really about. Leftist leaning WOMEN think they live in a prison at the subjugation of men. What a crock. The Left NEVER wants to talk about prevention. Most Conservative minded women know how to avoid the whole dilemma, and not resent men if they are in it.

Anonymous said...

Pro or Anti-Abortion, either way I am so done with politics and government.

Voted Republican all my life (Even held my nose and voted Trump) and the fact that we could not secure both House and Senate after senile Joe drove the American bus straight into the ground is enough.

We live in a zealot world and the few sane moderates left among us have zero representation.

Dem and Repubs politicians are both becoming millionaires while we fight over Red vs Blue and it won't be corrected in my lifetime. So yes. Let's call each other murderers or woman haters or some other buzzword we were fed.

Pelosi and McConnell will be eating cake.

Anonymous said...

“Based on the pro-abortion comments above, MS will always remain last in everything, losers.”


3:07 PM, if not wanting to kill babies makes someone a loser, I want to be the biggest loser on the planet.

Anonymous said...

November 14, 2022 at 3:20 PM, they can't comprehend what you're saying, but I'm picking up what you're putting down. It's definitely the truth.

Anonymous said...

The "equal protection" aspect in both law and culture drives much of the divisive opinions re abortion. Men and women 'should be' equally responsible for consequence of consensual sex resulting in pregnancy. The outcome should always be a live baby and either marriage or adoption must be facilitated.

Paternity can now be scientifically determined.
How the responsibility of the mother and father is assured during pregnancy can be fairly legislated.

Anonymous said...

3:55, if you read the exit polls, yes they came out in droves over the abortion issue. There’s nothing else to drive democrats to vote in 2022. Their party has wrecked everything else. And now we will end up with legislation or executive orders worse than Roe.

Anonymous said...

Pro-lifers ranted about judicial activism for 49 years. Now they want the Mississippi judiciary — 9 pretend lawyers — to declare what women’s rights are.

They’re terrified of putting this issue to a state-wide vote.

Craven hypocrites. They never meant a word of it.


Anonymous said...

I don’t give a freakin damn about who wants it gets an abortion. If they want to kill a baby that’s between them and God.

Queen Bee said...

Okay.., as a women, let me say this.....
For the "special kids" in the back.......Abortion IS NOT birth control! I swear, it ain't this damn hard! You mean to tell me that with all this birth control out here, some of ya'll are so "simple" that you can't even locate birth control and use it? And, why should abortion be made so convenient for anyone to go and get? I hate to break the news but, but birth control DOES EXIST! How 'bout being responsible when having sex? Just because you got a lot of mileage on you (if you know what I mean), does NOT mean you should be preggers in all those encounters. Ain't nothing wrong with doing the wild-thang! So, get on something and be responsible with that A$$!

Anonymous said...

@6:01 there has already been a state wide vote on the abortion issue and the legislators Mississippians have elected clearly don’t want abortion to be legal in MS except for rare exceptions.

Anonymous said...

I so wish people would really look at what Roe v Wade was actually about. It wasn’t about abortion in a specific way. It was about a citizen’s constitutional right of privacy, which it found to be implicit in the liberty guarantee of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (“…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”). Overturning Roe puts any SCOTUS decision based on said implicit right in jeopardy. For example - Griswold v Connecticut in 1965 gave married couples (and later all adults) guaranteed access to contraceptives - because of one’s right to privacy. This could be reversed. And, going forward, Dobbs can be used as precedent to restrict our privacies. Look at the bigger picture…

Anonymous said...

MCPP.

What a joke. Largely funded and pushed by a bored physician's wife.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, @4:40PM is spot on. If Trump insists on running again the Dems will take the presidency again. Trump is a divisive egomaniac, and I too held my nose and voted for him.

Ron DeSantis is our only hope.

Anonymous said...

I suppose the abortion issue is why the legislature refuses to fix the ballot initiative process in Mississippi. Pure chickensh*t. Frankly, I don't know exactly when life begins, and neither does anyone else.

That said, I agree that we need to know whether the Fordice opinion is still good law, regardless of who the plaintiff is in the case. We recently had a chancellor rule that it is not, but the appeal was rendered moot before it could be decided.

(I included that last detail for the benefit of the obviously-out-of-state trolls who seem to pop up at any mention of "abortion," for the apparent purpose of talking down to all of us barefoot hayseeds.)

Anonymous said...

6:01 - 9 lawyers (pretend or otherwise) will only decide on a narrow, specific conflict. They will not be the decision-making body to rule on whether or not Mississippi will allow (certain) abortions. Stop spreading falsehoods!

Anonymous said...

The sacrament of Beelzebub and the left.

Anonymous said...

Pro Life arguments for the non-religious:
- 97% of abortions are for CONVENIENCE. This has to be the most intrusive and expensive alternative to using birth control in advance.
- If we find a cell in a drop of water on Mars it is life; but, an embryo with a heartbeat is not?
- If a pregnant woman is murdered, it is a double homicide.
- There are 73 MILLION abortions performed in the world in ONE year. It is the biggest waste of human talent and resources the world has ever known. Far more destructive to the human race than wars, disease, disasters, and accidents combined. How many scientists, engineers, doctors, researchers, philosophers, entrepreneurs, leaders, and musicians/artists are we losing out on?

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, everyone here is pro-life until their daughter gets pregnant out of wedlock or they face a pregnancy in their 40's or they don't want to support a child or marry the mother. And, of course, when they find out cancer growth is accelerated by hormone increases in pregnancy and they and the child will likely die young.
What people say here and what they believe and act upon ain't necessarily the same.
They simply want to avoid having to deal with the anger/stupidity of the deliberately ignorant, nod in agreement and vow never to take you seriously about anything ever again.
Don't believe me?
I DARE you to put abortion up to a vote all by itself on the ballot as it's worded in Dobbs.
Have the balls Kansas had or if you wear a skirt, put your money where your mouth is!

Anonymous said...

6:14,

“In the Dobbs case, Mississippi secured a major victory for human rights and the rule of law,” said MJI Director Aaron Rice. “Now it’s time to finish the job and protect the right to life in the state that took down Roe.”

“Finish the job.” Sounds pretty final to me.

Anonymous said...

7:41,

Those votes were taken before Dobbs. They were theoretical votes because Roe rendered them invalid as soon as they were cast.

Hold another vote now that it means something. That’s what the pro-life faction said they wanted: overturn Roe and let the states decide. But now they’ve changed their tune. The press statement said Roe was the first step, and now they want the Court, not the people, to “finish the job.”

Craven hypocrisy. They never meant a word.

Anonymous said...

"Conservatives" were all about states' rights, back when individual states wanted to keep racial segregation and ban abortion. After the Kansas vote, they're moving toward federalism.

Anonymous said...

This kind of stuff is going on around the country. This issue and the pure dishonestly of the extreme right, is going to push more moderate republicans to vote democrat until things are right sized by congress and the Supreme Court is returned to a non political body.

Anonymous said...

8:33: Hear, hear!

Anonymous said...

To all you pro abortion freaks, let women speak for themselves. I am a woman and do NOT believe abortion should be birth control. I have never had children or have never been pregnant because guess what? I was on birth control. It’s simple. It’s free and it doesn’t take a life. To 10:05, a vote don’t mean anything now because we have voted on other things namely the flag and the vote didn’t mean jack because they still changed it without another vote.

Anonymous said...

9:57; Your quotes have nothing to do with the claim that '9 pretend lawyers' will decide the fate of abortion. Pay attention. When they get around to addressing 'Fordice', they won't touch whether or not women can abort. Their role is to address an apparent conflict between two 'laws'.

Who gives a rat's what MJI director Aaron Rice says or thinks?

Anonymous said...

Hard to say which word is understood by fewer of these commenters:

“justice” or “babies”?

Anonymous said...

2:11,

He filed the lawsuit.

Saying the Court “won’t touch” the question of woman’s right to an abortion is 100% dishonest. You give the game away there.

Anonymous said...

8:26 - 'Life, liberty or property' has zero to do with a yet to be born child. If your mad theory was correct, we would all have the liberty to walk into an establishment and shoot the owner. After all, 'liberty' gives me the freedom to do whatever....right?

Anonymous said...

Fordice covers a lot more ground than just abortion. One of the main cases on which is was based is a religious freedom case. Be careful what you wish for, folks. The ends never justify the means.

Anonymous said...

@ 2:20 aka 1:33 (and others) - To save time you could just combine your silly notions into one post.

Anonymous said...

@639 - could you please just read Roe, read about the law behind the decision, just read something academically-based in regards to Roe. My mad theory is based on the original filing and subsequent decision in Roe - a woman’s ability to choose under the right to privacy (form of liberty) given by the 14th amendment.

Oh, also…
Life - government can’t take your life without due process
Property - government can’t your property without due process
Liberty - government can’t take your physical freedom without due process



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