Pro-Life Physicians Ask Mississippi Supreme Court to Affirm Constitutionality of Elective Abortion Ban

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Aaron Rice
aaron.rice@americandreamlegal.org
(601) 879-5595

American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists v. Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure, et al.

JACKSON, MS, June 23, 2025—Today, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) filed an appellate brief asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to overrule Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice and affirm the constitutionality of Mississippi’s elective abortion ban.

AAPLOG is represented by American Dream Legal, a newly formed public interest law firm in Mississippi that defends the American Dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

“American Dream Legal is proud to stand with AAPLOG in this important case,” said Aaron Rice, AAPLOG’s attorney and CEO of American Dream Legal. “The people of Mississippi enacted a law that protected unborn life and took down the U.S. Supreme Court’s abuse of judicial authority in Roe v. Wade. It is only fitting that we likewise put an end to efforts by the courts in our own state to impose abortion policy by judicial fiat.”

While the U.S. Supreme Court has overruled Roe v. Wade, Mississippi has its own version of the Roe decision, called Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice. In that 1998 case, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that Mississippi’s own state constitution protects a right to abortion. That decision by the state’s high court has never been overruled. Meanwhile, the sole board-certification authority for American obstetricians and gynecologists maintains ethics standards requiring physicians with conscience objections to abortion to nonetheless provide referrals for the procedure when it is lawful in the physician’s state.

Because Mississippi’s criminal ban on the performance of or referral for elective abortion directly conflicts with the Fordice decision, it has rendered the legal framework governing physicians’ conduct incoherent. AAPLOG physicians are caught between conflicting legal duties: refer patients and risk prosecution under state law—or refuse to refer and risk professional ruin. Their suit seeks judicial resolution of that conflict before they are forced to choose.

AAPLOG is appealing a chancery court order that dismissed its case seeking to clarify whether Mississippi considers elective abortion a crime or a constitutional right.

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