Paul, Weiss and CRR Win Injunction Against Mississippi’s Ban on Abortion After 6 Weeks of Pregnancy

As reported by The New York Times, The Washington Post and other national media, Paul, Weiss and co-counsel the Center for Reproductive Rights won a preliminary injunction preventing the enforcement of a new law that would ban abortion in the state after approximately six weeks of pregnancy, before most women even know they are pregnant. The law would otherwise have taken effect on July 1.

The ban, a so-called “heartbeat ban,” would criminalize abortions performed after the point at which fetal cardiac activity is detected. The ban was passed just four months after Paul, Weiss and CRR won an important ruling—now on appeal to the Fifth Circuit—striking down and permanently enjoining a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy as unconstitutional under clearly established Supreme Court precedent. In his May 24 order, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves also permitted our client, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, to expand its ongoing lawsuit challenging the state’s regime of other restrictive abortion regulations—which already impose an undue burden on women’s ability to access abortion care in Mississippi–to include the new law.

Mississippi is one of several states that are considering, or have enacted, similarly restrictive bans on abortion as part of a strategy to ask the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade.

Counsel Caitlin Grusauskas argued part of the motion in front of Judge Reeves. The Paul, Weiss team on the matter includes, among others, litigation partners Claudia Hammerman and Roberto Gonzalez, counsel Aaron Delaney and associates Crystal Johnson, Heather Milligan, Paul Gross, Ariel Spierer, Avery Burrell and Clare Tilton.