5th Circuit

About the 5th Circuit

The 5th Circuit covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It has seventeen seats, one of which is vacant.

Reproductive Rights in the 5th Circuit

Grade: F

The states in the 5th Circuit receive an average grade of F regarding reproductive rights. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas have all enacted laws that severely restrict a woman's reproductive rights. While over the years courts have struck down some of these onerous restrictions as unconstitutional, the vast majority remain on the books. It will be up to the judges who sit on the 5th Circuit Court to uphold or deny a woman's reproductive rights as they deliberate the constitutionality of these restrictive laws.
   
Pending Nominees to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals  

None  
    
Acknowledgment:
NCJW thanks the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation for the use of data contained in the "2008 Report Card on Women's Reproductive Rights" included in Who Decides? The Status of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States, 17th edition, 2008. In this publication, NARAL Pro-Choice America assigned each state and the District of Columbia a letter grade based on the nature of reproductive rights laws in 20 categories. These grades were averaged to offer a general overview of the status of reproductive rights in each circuit.