The Mississippi State Legislature passed a ban on abortions after 20 weeks on April 1. The bill was approved with strong support, and Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to sign it into law soon. “This measure represents a great effort to protect the unborn in Mississippi,” Bryant said. He is right — the bill is a boon for Mississippi’s unborn. Too bad the unjust ban yields negative consequences for women.

The law marks a dangerous attempt to bypass the standards established in Roe v. Wade with a “no-exceptions rule” after 20 weeks, including cases of rape or incest. The law only allows abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy when there is a grave threat to the mother’s life. Perhaps because Mississippi has the worst education standards in the entire nation, its state legislature used a standard for calculating gestational weeks not used by any other medical professional or doctor in the entire country. It seems that the predominantly white male legislature has some form of female medical expertise unknown to the rest of the nation’s medical community.

In the past, Mississippi offered little support for women seeking abortions. Only one legal abortion clinic exists in the state, and even it refuses to conduct the procedure after 16 weeks. Limited access to safe abortion clinics poses a threat to the health of Mississippi women, forcing them to turn to alternative methods. Since many of Mississippi’s surrounding states have similarly restrictive abortion laws, women may turn to illegal, unsafe procedures.

Texas also offers few opportunities for women seeking abortions, and a recent state ruling has only made the situation worse. The decision imposes unfair costs on health clinics that offer abortions, and has the potential to put half of them out of business. The law requires abortion clinics to have ambulatory surgery centers even though the clinics, with support from medical associations, claim such centers are unnecessary. Mississippi is not alone in its deficient mentality on women’s rights.

Mississippi is not the only state that has been passing pro-life laws. But if last year’s ruling in a federal appeals court on a similar Arizona bill is any indication, the Mississippi ban will not stand untested for long. Because Arizona’s 20-week law directly challenged Roe v. Wade’s suggested 23 to 24, it was deemed unconstitutional.

This law does not come as much surprise for a heavily conservative state that has tried every tactic to get around the precedent set in Roe v. Wade. Unlike other state laws that have been struck down by federal appeals courts, it is not so certain whether the court for Mississippi will do the same given its conservative-leaning justices. The war on women has been firmly established in Mississippi — only a Supreme Court ruling will put an end to it.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, April 3 print edition. Email the WSN Editorial Board at [email protected].