A federal appeals court handed down a ruling on Tuesday that ensures women in Mississippi will not have to travel to another state in order to safely end a pregnancy.

In a 2-1 decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an anti-abortion law that would have closed the state's only abortion clinic, reports the Associated Press.

The three-judge panel declared that a 2012 state law, "which required physicians at the clinic to obtain admitting privileges at a local hospital," is unconstitutional, the AP reports. As a result, Jackson Women's Health Organization, the last remaining abortion clinic in the state, will remain open.

Attorneys representing the state of Mississippi argued that women could get abortions in other states if the clinic shut down.

However, the court panel upheld the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Roe v. Wade that granted women the constitutional right to have an abortion. The panel stated that "Mississippi may not shift its obligation to respect the established constitutional rights of its citizens to another state."

"Pre-viability, a woman has the constitutional right to end her pregnancy by abortion. H.B. 1390 effectively extinguishes that right within Mississippi's borders," wrote the two judges in the majority ruling.

The dissenting judge, Emilio M. Garza of Texas, said that he disagreed with the ruling, writing: "Because the undue burden test requires an assessment of the difficulty of obtaining abortion services, whether in a woman's own state or a neighboring state, and because neither the district court nor the majority has undertaken this assessment, I respectfully dissent."

The Center for Reproductive Rights applauded the decision: "Today's ruling ensures women who have decided to end a pregnancy will continue, for now, to have access to safe, legal care in their home state," said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the CRR, in a news statement.