JACKSON, Miss.–The state’s only abortion clinic is still open and women continue to have abortions there despite laws passed in 2012 that could have forced the Jackson Women’s Health Organization to close. Today, the state heads to federal court in New Orleans to try and have a judge to allow Mississippi to enforce those laws.
Since the 2012 law that requires anyone who performs abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, the clinic has been operating under a court order.
The federal judge who heard the case then upheld the state’s law, but ordered the state could not force the clinic to close while it attempted to comply with the law.
Diane Derzis, the clinic’s owner, said the clinic is having trouble getting those admitting privileges because the doctors who perform abortions at the clinic are from out of state.
Gov. Bryant has said several times that it is his intention to use the law to stop abortions in Mississippi. State lawmakers said the law is to protect womens’ health.
Derzis has said that is an absurd argument.
