SW News: Pro-life advocates are rejoicing over the life-defending verdicts of two US states. Florida and Mississippi have reinstated their abortion ban laws. In Florida, a law that forbade abortions after 15 weeks of gestation was reinstated on Tuesday, July 5. It was halted following a circuit court judge's ruling that the statute violated the constitution.

Circuit Court Judge John Cooper halted Florida’s 15-week ban on abortion, which came into effect on Friday, July 1. However, the state promptly appealed the circuit court decision, which reinstated the law.

The 15-week restriction in Florida allows for exceptions for abortions if the mother's life is in danger during the pregnancy and if the fetus has a fatal anomaly. But it does not provide exceptions for rape or incest. When the Supreme Court annulled Roe v Wade last month, removing the constitutionality of abortion across the US, it was based on Mississippi's Gestational Age Act that banned abortions after 15 weeks of gestation.

Separately, the only abortion facility in Mississippi had urged a judge to temporarily overturn the state's prohibition on most abortions, which the court denied. Judge Debbra Halford in Jackson, Mississippi, rejected a motion by the abortion facility to halt the implementation of an abortion restriction scheduled to go into force on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the attorneys representing the Jackson Women's Health Organization in Mississippi had contended that the right to privacy guaranteed by the state constitution also encompassed a right to an abortion. However, at a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Halford dismissed the argument, saying, "The plain wording of the Mississippi Constitution does not mention abortion" in her verdict.  

Mississippi is one of 13 states with "trigger" laws banning or curbing abortions when Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court. Since the landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, the prohibition can take effect with the closure of the state's sole abortion center.