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Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 19-60455

JACKSON WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATION, on behalf of itself and its 

patients; SACHEEN CARR-ELLIS, M.D., M.P.H., on behalf of herself and her 

patients,

Plaintiffs-Appellees

v.

THOMAS E. DOBBS, M.D., M.P.H., in his official capacity as State Health 

Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health; KENNETH CLEVELAND, 

M.D., in his official capacity as Executive Director of the Mississippi State 

Board of Medical Licensure,

Defendants-Appellants

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Mississippi

Before KING, COSTA, and HO, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

In 2018, Mississippi enacted a law prohibiting abortions, with limited 

exceptions, after 15 weeks’ gestational age. A district court enjoined the law, 

and we recently upheld that injunction. Jackson Women’s Health Org. v. 

Dobbs, 945 F.3d 265, 274, 277 (5th Cir. 2019) (Dobbs I). The 15-week law, we 

concluded, is not a mere regulation of previability abortions subject to the 

“undue burden” test of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. 

Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992). Dobbs I, 945 F.3d at 273–74. Instead, the law is a 

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

February 20, 2020

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

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No. 19-60455

2

ban on abortion after 15 weeks, “which Casey does not tolerate.” Id. at 274. 

Such a ban is unconstitutional under Supreme Court precedent without resort

to the undue burden balancing test. Id.; see also Casey, 505 U.S. at 879 

(holding that “a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate 

decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability”). 

In 2019, Mississippi enacted another abortion law—the one this case is 

about. Senate Bill 2116 makes it a crime to perform an abortion, with 

exceptions only to prevent the death of, or serious risk of “substantial and 

irreversible” bodily injury to, the patient, after a “fetal heartbeat has been 

detected.” ‘‘‘Fetal heartbeat’ means cardiac activity or the steady and 

repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac.” 

The parties disagree about when that activity occurs during a pregnancy. The 

clinic contends it occurs at six weeks. Mississippi argues it can occur anywhere 

between six and twelve weeks. But all agree that cardiac activity can be 

detected well before the fetus is viable. That dooms the law. If a ban on 

abortion after 15 weeks is unconstitutional, then it follows that a ban on 

abortion at an earlier stage of pregnancy is also unconstitutional.

Indeed, after we held that the 15-week ban is unconstitutional, 

Mississippi conceded that the fetal heartbeat law must also be. As our earlier 

decision explained, a ban on abortion is different from a law prohibiting certain 

methods of abortion. See Dobbs I, 945 F.3d at 273–74 (distinguishing Gonzales 

v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007)). And although Mississippi analogizes its law 

to ones that prohibit abortions sought for certain reasons, see, e.g., PretermCleveland v. Himes, 944 F.3d 630 (6th Cir. 2019) (granting rehearing en banc 

to address constitutionality of an Ohio law that criminalizes abortion if the 

provider knows the woman is seeking an abortion because there are indications 

the child might have Down Syndrome), Senate Bill 2116 bans abortions at a 

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previability stage of pregnancy regardless of the reason the abortion is sought. 

This case thus does not require us to assess the constitutionality of abortion 

laws that prohibit abortions performed using certain procedures or sought for 

a particular reason.

The preliminary injunction the district court granted is AFFIRMED.

Case: 19-60455 Document: 00515317350 Page: 3 Date Filed: 02/20/2020