Source: SANDY HUFFAKER / Getty
The doors of Mississippi’s last abortion clinic has closed. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, also known as the Pink House, shut down on July 6 due to the overturning of Roe. vs. Wade. The Pink House tried to get a restraining order so they could remain open. A judge rejected their request on July 5.
“Today is a hard day for all of us @ the last abortion provider in Mississippi. It is our last day fighting against all the odds – of being there when no other providers would or could. We are proud of the work we have done here. Thank U for all your support,” they wrote on Twitter.
Before closing its doors, doctors and physicians were trying to help as many women as possible.
“People in Mississippi who need abortions right now are in a state of panic, trying to get into the clinic before it’s too late,” the clinic’s lawyer Hillary Schneller told the Associated Press. “No one should be forced to live in fear like that.”
Women and teenagers were coming to the clinic from across the south to have abortions performed before they shut down. The AP reported that folks from Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas waited outside to receive services.
The Supreme Court ruling came from Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. They were challenging Mississippi’s abortion ban on pregnancies after 15 weeks. Jackson Women’s Health Organization had been performing abortions for women who were up to 16 weeks pregnant.
Even though they lost, Jackson Women’s Health Organization’s owner Diane Derzis doesn’t regret filing the lawsuit against Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi’s State Health Officer.
“We didn’t have a choice,” she said. “And if it hadn’t been this lawsuit, it would have been another one.”
Mississippi’s abortion law bans most but not all abortions. In Mississippi, an abortion can be performed if a woman’s life is in danger or if her pregnancy was caused a rape reported to police. This law doesn’t apply to pregnancies caused by incest.
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