/Hood will continue defending 6-week abortion ban

Hood will continue defending 6-week abortion ban

This announcement ends all speculation about how Attorney General Jim Hood (a Democrat running to be governor) would handle a law that is widely unpopular within his party. Hood stated that he would appeal Friday’s law to allow a higher court to weigh in on it. Hood stated that he has a statutory duty of defense for the laws passed by our Legislature. However, the Fifth Circuit has yet to rule on the issue. Hood was referring to a federal appels court. The Mississippi Legislature passed six-week abortion bans this spring. These laws are known by their proponents as “heartbeat” abortion laws. They prohibit abortion from being performed as soon as monitors detect the rhythm that will become the fetus’s heartbeat. Although the law was set to go into effect on July 1, Judge Carlton Reeves of the United States District Court blocked it last month, arguing that the law was more restrictive than the 15-week ban last year, which he also blocked. “Here we go again. Mississippi has passed another law banning abortions before viability,” Reeves wrote the first sentences of his order. He was referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s current standard that abortions should only be legal to the point they are viable. Many supporters of the law say that they hope that this standard will change soon with a new conservative majority on Supreme Court. They see fetal hearts beat laws as a way for that to happen. While other states have passed fetal beat bills, none of them have been subject to constitutional scrutiny. A federal judge in Kentucky struck down a six week ban on March 18. Six-week bans in North Dakota and Iowa were also struck down by the Iowa State Supreme Court and 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. However, Sen. Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) said that Trump’s recent appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court of Brett Kavanaugh, replacing the liberal former Justice Anthony Kennedy could alter the definition of “constitutional.” Fillingane stated that “yes, absolutely it was a fact,” after the vote. “The 2017 appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch didn’t change anything politically, as you were replacing one conservative justice with another conservative one. Then, Justice Kennedy announced his retirement plans, and Justice Kavanaugh was finally seated, I believe people on both the left and right started to wonder, “Oh my goodness!” “What does the new court look like politically and ideologically?” In the weeks leading up to the August primary there was a lot of speculation about Hood’s appeal against the decision by the lower court. Hood stated that defending the law was his duty as attorney general. However, he hasn’t always followed this mantra. Hood supported members of his party that had largely opposed the bill. He declined to appeal Judge Reeves’s decision and issued a blistering attack on the law. Some white Democrats believe that it is hard, if not impossible to win statewide office if you support abortion access. Hood has maintained that he is private anti-abortion even though his public position on abortion only recently began to emerge. Hood stated in a May statement to Mississippi Today that “God knows us in our wombs (Jeremiah 1:14-5).” Hood stated that he has defended every law protecting unborn children in court, including the 15-week ban on abortion and the latest ‘heartbeat bill’. He also said that he will continue to defend Mississippi’s laws and unborn children.