NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The state of Mississippi says a federal court erred in not letting it present evidence about whether a fetus experiences pain.

  

Attorney Paul Barnes addressed the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday about a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

  

The state's only abortion clinic sued and U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves blocked the law from taking effect last year, saying it "unequivocally" violates women's constitutional rights because it bans abortion weeks before viability.

  

Barnes said the case's outcome was "preordained" as soon as Reeves determined he wasn't going to consider evidence outside of viability.

  

But a lawyer for the abortion clinic says the Supreme Court has been clear about a women's right to have an abortion before the fetus is viable.