Mississippi's only abortion clinic gets 2nd reprieve

Jackson Women's Health Organization owner Diane Derzis, poses at the gate of Mississippi's only abortion clinic in Jackson, Miss., Monday, July 2, 2012, after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Sunday, that blocked enforcement of a law that could regulate it out of business. / AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

(AP) JACKSON, Miss. - A federal judge on Wednesday decided to continue to block a state law that threatened to shut down Mississippi's only abortion clinic and make it nearly impossible for a woman to get the procedure in the state.

U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III temporarily blocked the law July 1 and extended that order Wednesday, though he did not immediately say how long it would last.

Mississippi's only abortion clinic stays open, for now
Federal judge blocks Mississippi anti-abortion law

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can't place undue burdens or substantial obstacles to women seeking abortion. The law would require anyone performing clinic abortions to be an OB-GYN with privileges to admit patients to a local hospital. The doctors at the clinic in Jackson do not have those privileges, and the clinic says the privileges aren't medically necessary.

Supporters of the law say it's designed to protect patients. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant says he hopes it will help make Mississippi "abortion-free."

The clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, says it has been unable to obtain admitting privileges for its two out-of-state OB-GYNs because local hospitals have not responded to their requests.

Admitting privileges can be difficult to get because hospitals might not grant them to out-of-state physicians, or hospitals with religious affiliations might not give them to doctors who perform abortions.

The clinic said it would face "irreparable harm" if the law were to be enforced because hospitals haven't said when — or if — they'll consider the admitting privileges. The clinic wanted the judge to continue to block the law to see if its doctors can get the privileges.

"If they're denied or if the hospitals are dragging their feet, that's going to be more clear evidence that there's a substantial obstacle" to access to an abortion, clinic attorney Robert McDuff said.

The government said the privileges help protect patients by ensuring they have continuity of care if a woman needs to go to the hospital. They also note that while the clinic might have to wait to get hospital privileges, "inconvenience is not `irreparable harm."'

The state attorney general's office declined to comment after the hearing.

The law was passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature and when Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed it, he said: "If it closes that clinic, then so be it."

The state's attorney had argued that any anti-abortion statements by elected officials were "weak evidence" that the purpose of the law was to prevent abortions.

Terri Herring of the Pro Life America Network lobbied for the law and attended the court hearing. After the judge's decision, Herring said the hospitals should deny admitting privileges for the abortion clinic's doctors.

"There's no vetting process for fly-by-night physicians who come in and perform abortions at the clinic," Herring said.

The clinic uses out-of-state physicians because in-state physicians generally don't want to face the social pressure of having protesters at their offices, homes or churches, clinic employees say.

Opponents of the law say any patient experiencing complications could receive immediate care from emergency room physicians.

The clinic for the past several years has also had a transfer agreement with a local OB-GYN who has hospital admitting privileges. He doesn't perform abortions at the clinic but provides backup help by agreeing to meet clinic patients at a hospital if there's an emergency.

Clinic owner Diane Derzis said since she acquired Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2010, no woman has had to be taken from the clinic by ambulance.

The U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 established a nationwide right to abortion. In 1992, the court's decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey upheld the Roe decision and allowed states to regulate abortions before fetuses are viable. But the 1992 decision also said states may not place undue burdens or substantial obstacles to women seeking abortion.

If the clinic closed, the closest clinics to Jackson are about 200 miles away, in Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama.

Mississippi physicians who perform fewer than 10 abortions a month can avoid having their offices regulated as an abortion clinic, and thus avoid restrictions in the new law. The clinic's owner has said the clinic is unlikely to stay open and perform that few abortions per month. The Health Department said it doesn't have a record of how many physicians perform fewer than 10 abortions a month.

Clinic operators say almost all the abortions in the state are done in their building. They say in court papers that the clinic did about 3,000 abortions in 18 months.

[info630]

You know, the state of Mississippi spends a lot of money promoting its tourism, especially after the BP Oil Spills -- money that's wasted while so many Americans are still waiting for Mississippi to acquire BASIC CIVILIZATION. Me and my family and pals are not going to visit and spend money in a place: that takes away women's rights to control their own bodies; that concerns itself more with sports, hunting, and fishing than educating its children; and where politics hasn't changed much since the Civil War.

[tvwatcher5345]

a born again friend of mine who is a republican, his wife got pregnant and the baby was forming outside the womb and could have been born alive but with severe birth defects, he says she went to the doctor and had a miscarriage, it was their decision to make and not mine to judge, thanks to the dems they had that option

[realpatriot1776]

Scott Peterson is in prison for killing his unborn child, odd how freedom is given to some but not to all, why should anyone be given a pass to murder an unborn child, oh that's right you call it a fetus, and than it is not a human baby it is like a turd, just toss it away,

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

Have you adopted?

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

We are soooo screwed with the coming population explosion that we won't be around to worry about the climate.

I truly do not think that we can survive the next century without either strictly restricting populations, or moving off of earth.
Sadly, I doubt either will happen.

In a calculus class I took, we based the data on the number of estimated habitable square miles on the earth, excluding extreme climates like the Antarctic and mountain tops, oceans, etc. Places people could reasonably live.

The idea was that the maximum density for EVERY ONE of those square miles could be 500 people. We're talking desert, every hill, every place you drive past, every single square mile. The rough calculation for that population density is 25 billion.
....and we are on line, per natural logarithms, to hit 25 billion by the year 2080.

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

Your data is incorrect and seriously flawed.

=========

No, it isn't. That is, if you understand natural growth curves, and how humanity has been on course for the past 100 centuries.

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

Lou - have you adopted?

[smartasss1]

Maybe the crime rate in Alabamastan will shoot up 18 years later

[smartasss1]

Data indicates that crime in the United States started to decline in 1992. Donohue and Levitt suggest that the absence of unwanted aborted children, following legalization in 1973, led to a reduction in crime 18 years later, starting in 1992 and dropping sharply in 1995. These would have been the peak crime-committing years of the unborn children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalized_abortion_and_crime_effect

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

It's staggering that those who want small government want it controlling our bodies, at the same time. CUCKOO! CUCKOO!

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

I always love watching dinosaurs like the Christian Taliban get dragged into the 21st century. Preferably kicking and screaming.

Nice.

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

I was talking about actual people, lou, not some fetus.

[RepubsAreFiscallyLiberal]

Good for them.

It's amazing how backwards Mississippi is. Next they will demand records of women's periods and ban out-of-state travel if they are late....

.