Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic Can Stay Open
The only abortion clinic in the entire state of Mississippi will stay open after an appeals court panel struck down a law designed to close it.
Judges from the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a law that would effectively force the state's last remaining clinic to shut down, placed an undue burden on women. In the court's ruling, Judge E. Grady Jolly argued that "Mississippi may not shift its obligation to respect the established constitutional rights of its citizens to another state."
In 2012, Mississippi passed a law requiring that doctors at abortion clinics also gain admitting privileges at local hospitals. Two of the three doctors at the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic were unable to gain admitting privileges, and so the state tried to shut them down. JWHO argued that closing the state's only clinic placed an undue burden on abortion access, while the state argued that women could go to other states.
RELATED: Republicans Have Lost Control of the Impeachment Plot They Hatched
As MSNBC explained in April, the court had the option of allowing a district court stay of the closing of the clinic to continue, or allow the law to go into affect and close the clinic. It chose the former.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07/mississippis-only-abortion-clinic-will-stay-open/375262/
Read more from The Wire
• Six Sad Ways to Land a Spot on The Hill's 2015 Most Beautiful People List
• Everyone Is Already Unhappy With the Immigration Orders Obama Hasn't Announced Yet
