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Mississippi Abortion Clinic Defeated By SCOTUS Must Officially Close

(Photo by SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

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Blake Mauro Contributor
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Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the abortion clinic that was the subject of the Supreme Court case overturning Roe v. Wade, must finally shut its doors after a judge rejected the clinic’s request to temporarily block a Mississippi law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks.

The clinic, also known as the Pink House, was Mississippi’s last operating abortion clinic which now must close, according to The Associated Press. The Mississippi state trigger law that officially outlaws abortion in the state went into effect July 7.

The new law prohibits all abortions with exceptions for cases involving rape, if filed with law enforcement, or if the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life. Individuals convicted under the new law can face between one and ten years in prison.

In a last-ditch effort to preserve the abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization filed a lawsuit requesting that the court issue a temporary block of the 2007 Mississippi law that would prohibit most abortions in Mississippi.

The judge rejected the organization’s request, allowing the Mississippi abortion ban to take effect as intended on Thursday.

Mississippi now joins other U.S. states such as Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas that have begun to enforce their state’s trigger laws to outlaw abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. (RELATED: Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt Pulls The Trigger On Statewide Abortion Ban) 

But other states like Oregon and Washington have expanded abortion access after the ruling.

New Mexico is another state that does not impose abortion restrictions, such as parental involvement and designated waiting periods, that are found in other states. In 2021, the state repealed a 1969 dormant abortion law that classifies most abortion procedures as a felony-level charge.

With free abortion access, Diane Derzis, the health organization’s owner, along with the clinic’s director Shannon Brewer, have plans to transport their abortion clinic to New Mexico.

Derzis and Brewer intend to open a new clinic under the name Pink House West in Las Cruces, according to the AP.

Mississippi has always been a state with stricter abortion laws and has a population in which the majority oppose abortion practices. Because of Mississippi’s nature, the Pink House frequently hires out-of-state physicians, like Dr. Cheryl Hamlin from Massachusetts, because no in-state doctors would work there, according to the AP.

Hamlin told the AP that as the clinic arranges to open a base in New Mexico, she plans to follow suit and obtain her medical license in New Mexico so she can work there.

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