Mississippi's Lone Abortion Clinic Saved, for Now

By: Hillary Crosley | Posted: July 14, 2012 at 11:04 AM

Protestors in Mississippi (Marianne Todd/Getty Images)

After a Mississippi law was passed last month that would essentially shutter the state's only abortion clinic, a judge has granted the institution a reprieve. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the law originally required that all physicians at the clinic obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals, a difficult and lengthy process, or the clinic must close. The recent ruling, though, allows the clinic to stay open while it works to meet the new requirements.

But so far, the clinic has had little luck in abiding by the law, which requires it to get "admission privileges" from local hospitals. One hospital recently told the clinic "not to bother."

The ruling by Judge Dan Jordan on Friday was seen as a partial victory both for the Jackson Women's Health Organization, which provides the bulk of the state's annual 2,000 abortion, as well as state anti-abortion activists and sympathizers, including Gov. Phil Bryant, who said he hoped the law would make the state "abortion-free." ...

While the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in the US, the situation in Mississippi is testing the limits of the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling, which said states can regulate abortion clinics as long as those laws don't essentially harm women's underlying right to choose an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy.

Read more at the Christian Science Monitor.

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