States Back Order Blocking Mississippi’s Six-Week Abortion Ban

Mississippi shouldn’t be allowed to enforce a nearly total ban on abortion, the attorneys general of 20 states and the District of Columbia told the Fifth Circuit.

The law prohibiting abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected is unconstitutional, the California-led coalition said in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Oct. 4. The states want the Fifth Circuit to uphold a lower court order blocking the state’s ban.

Cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period, which is well before a fetus would be ...