Sole abortion clinic in Mississippi shuts
Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, locked its doors after the close of business Wednesday after a trial judge’s refusal to block the state’s trigger law from taking effect, instituting a near-total abortion ban.
“Without any further action, today will be the last day that Jackson Women’s Health can provide abortion care,” said Hillary Schneller, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights who represents the clinic. “That means the last abortion provider in Mississippi will no longer be able to provide essential care to both folks in Mississippi and folks who’ve been traveling across multiple state lines to access this essential care before it’s too late.”
Chancery Judge Debbra Halford denied the clinic’s request for injunctive relief Tuesday, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade last month. Halford, who is a trial judge in southwest Mississippi, was appointed to decide the case after local judges in Hinds County, Mississippi, where the clinic is located, recused themselves.
Robert McDuff, another attorney for the clinic, said that the legal team is considering next steps, including a possible appeal in the coming days, but the clinic will not be able to continue offering services while the case winds its way through the courts.
Mississippi’s trigger law was passed in 2007, when Roe still secured federal protections for abortion access. The law bans nearly all abortions with narrow exceptions in the case of a rape that is reported to police or to save the life of the mother. The state can begin enforcing that law for the first time today.
The Tuesday court hearing that decided the immediate fate of the state’s last abortion clinic began with a pastor’s prayer, requested by the judge, for “the presence of [the] Holy Spirit in the courtroom.”
The legal team representing Jackson Women’s Health Organization argued that a right to privacy conferred in the Mississippi Constitution protects abortion access at the state level, regardless of federal law. McDuff argued that a 1998 case called ProChoice Mississippi v. Fordice established that the state constitution protects the right to an abortion.
Mississippi’s solicitor general, Scott Stewart, argued the state’s case in favor of allowing the trigger law to take effect, contending that the 1998 ruling relied heavily on Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court last month. Halford agreed with the state.
Halford acknowledged that the potential harm to patients seeking abortions, including psychological trauma and a perceived loss of opportunities, would be “significant, and irreparable.” But she ruled that the state had a more compelling case for enforcing the law.
After the court’s decision to allow the state’s near-total abortion ban to take hold today, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves cheered the ruling as “a great victory for life.”
“Every life has inherent dignity and Mississippi will continue to do everything it can to advance the fight for life,” Reeves added in a statement on Tuesday.