Judge Strikes Down Mississippi Abortion Law

Yet more proof that if weren't for judges we wouldn't have no justice at all:

The struck-down law would have required patients to go to hospitals or outpatient surgical facilities for abortions starting at 13 weeks' gestation. Previously, abortions were allowed at clinics up to 16 weeks' gestation.

The state said the 2004 law was aimed at improving patient safety, but opponents said it was an attempt to limit abortion in a state that has only one abortion clinic. U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee, in a ruling made public Wednesday, agreed.

The judge ruled the law was enacted "for reasons wholly unrelated to any actual safety or health concerns." He said the state knew no abortion clinic was licensed as a hospital or ambulatory surgery facility. He also noted that public hospitals could perform abortions only in extremely limited circumstances.

"Northeast Mississippi women rarely go to Jackson because they have abortion clinics in Memphis, Tuscaloosa and Birmingham that are closer," said Nancy Pruett, director of Tupelo-based Sav-A-Life. Alabama and Tennessee also do not have the waiting periods required by Mississippi law.