On Tuesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of continuing operation for the last abortion clinic in Mississippi.
The ruling came in opposition of a 2012 state trap law that required medical providers at the clinic to have hospital admitting privileges at a local hospital. Doctors working for the clinic sought privileges, but were turned away by seven different hospitals. The clinic, unable to meet the demands of the law, was going to have to close its doors.
Now that won’t be happening.
The ruling defends Roe v. Wade within Mississippi, as the Supreme Court previously ruled via Roe v. Wade that states could not, “not impose an undue burden on a woman’s right to access abortion up until the fetus would be viable outside the womb, or around 22 to 24 weeks into the pregnancy.” With this ruling, it’s reaffirmed that states may not shift the responsibility of supporting women’s right to abortion access to another state. They can’t simply create impossible boundaries, close all their own clinics, and claim the state lines are “close enough”.
When there was a thread recently about the Supreme Court ruling that the buffer zone around abortion clinics wasn’t allowed, there were comments calling for people to volunteer to be escorts. There aren’t as many people here that are vocal about being anti-abortion, but they definitely exist, so I got curious if escorts are needed here. It turns out they just do abortions at one of the hospitals. Which means protesters have no way of knowing who is going in for what. Too bad it’s not like that everywhere.
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In some places it’s fortunately still not that hard for a woman to both pursue a protected procedure, and keep her privacy. That should be the case nationwide. HIPA laws should somehow not allow what currently goes on at abortion clinics. Patient privacy is regularly being targeted. We currently have states where a woman may have to drive hundreds of miles and then run a gauntlet of disapproving people who don’t understand her choice, and also want to take it away, before she ever enters the building.
It’s so very wrong.
I was really relieved to read this story. With only one clinic in the state, it may seem like hardly a victory, but if any one state is allowed to completely shut its doors to abortion rights, Roe v. Wade will be under direct attack - and that is a truly scary thought.
