Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic Close to being Shut Down

The Mississippi Legislature signed House Bill 1390 into law in April. The law requires all physicians who perform abortions in abortions clinics to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and must be board certified in gynecology or obstetrics. The clinic has been unable to admit patients in hospitals due to hospital administrators hesitation to be titled as abortion advocates. Twelve hospitals near the clinic have denied hospital privileges to women wishing for abortion. The owners of Mississippi's only abortion clinic are going to fight Mississippi's state law in federal court in the near future. Like Diane Derzis, the clinic's president and owner, I hope the federal judge declares Mississippi's law unconstitutional. In July, a federal judge temporarily blocked the law from going into effect to allow the clinic time to comply with the law in order to avoid the state from imposing penalties against the organization. The law's sponsor in Mississippi's House, Rep. Sam Mims, claims the state's measure wasn't created to eliminate abortion, but that's a lie. The lawmakers properly anticipated that hospitals would deny access to women wishing for abortions, therefore eliminating abortion. "A lot of facilities and hospitals, no doubt, don't want to... be labeled as the one facility that's hospitable to providing abortions," said Mississippi State University Professor Martin Wiseman. Mississippi is often considered to be one of the most conservative, religious states in the U.S. The issue of government, mainly state legislatures, being allowed to make abortion unavailable or illegal is a reoccurring issue across America. Americans need to make it clear to the government that we stand for our individual rights, including the right to abortion.