JACKSON, MISS. (AP) — Mississippi’s only abortion clinic has been buzzing with activity in the chaotic days since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down statewide abortion rights — a case that originated in this conservative Deep South state, with this bright pink medical facility closing doors on Wednesday.
Doctors at the Women’s Health Organization in Jackson are trying to see as many patients as possible before Thursday, when, barring the unlikely intervention of the conservative state Supreme Court, Mississippi will pass a law banning most abortions.
Amid stifling summer heat and humidity, clashes intensified Wednesday between anti-abortion protesters and volunteers escorting patients to the clinic, best known as the Pink House.
When Dr. Cheryl Hamlin, who has traveled from Boston for five years to perform abortions, stepped outside the Pink House, an anti-abortionist used a megaphone to yell at her. “Repent! Repent!” Doug Lane shouted.
His words were silenced by abortion rights supporter Bo Black, who repeatedly yelled at Lane, “Hypocrites and Pharisees! Hypocrites and Pharisees!”
Abortion access has become increasingly restricted in wide swathes of the US as conservative states enact restrictions or bans that took effect when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
The court, made up of three conservative justices appointed by former President Donald Trump, issued the decision on June 24. But the Mississippi clinic has been flooded with patients since September, when Texas enacted a ban on early-pregnancy abortions.
Cars with license plates from Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas drive through Jackson Fondren’s neighborhood to bring women and girls — some of whom appear to be teenagers — to the Pink House. Drivers parked on side streets near the clinic in the shade of pink and purple crepe myrtles, their car air conditioners blasting as they waited.
Diane Derzis, who has owned the Mississippi clinic since 2010, drove to Jackson to speak at the Pink House hours after the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
“It was a great honor and privilege to be in Mississippi. I’ve come to love this state and the people in it,” Derzis told those gathered in the heat.
The Supreme Court decision was in a case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the clinic’s challenge to a 2018 Mississippi law to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. The Pink House performed abortions up to 16 weeks, but previous US Supreme Court rulings have allowed abortion up to the point of fetal viability at about 24 weeks.
Mississippi’s top public health official, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, was named in the lawsuit but has not taken a public position on the matter. The state’s Republican attorney general urged the justices to use the case to overturn Roe v. Wade and give states more power to regulate or ban abortions.
Derzis told The Associated Press after the ruling that he had no regrets about filing the lawsuit, which ended up undermining nearly five decades of abortion case law.
“We had no choice. And if it wasn’t for this lawsuit, there would be another one,” said Derzis, who also owns abortion clinics in Georgia and Virginia and lives in Alabama.
The Mississippi clinic uses out-of-state doctors like Dr. Hamlin because there will be no in-state doctors working there.
As the Pink House prepares to close, Dr. Hamlin said she worries about women living in deep poverty in parts of the state with little access to health care.
“People say, ‘Oh, what do I do?'” she said. “And I say ‘Vote’.”
Shannon Brewer, director of Pink House, agrees that low-income women will be most affected by not being able to get an abortion in the state.
Brewer told the AP that anti-abortion protesters knew her by name and shouted at her, but she brushed them off.
“They don’t tell me much anymore other than ‘You come to work to kill babies,'” Brewer said. “I’ve been here for 20-odd years. And so it’s like when I get out of the car I don’t really hear it because it’s like the same thing over and over and over.
Some staff were expected to be at the Pink House on Thursday for paperwork before it closed, but there were no procedures.
With the Mississippi clinic closing, Derzis and Brewer will soon open an abortion clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, about an hour’s drive from El Paso, Texas, calling it Pink House West. Hamlin said he is getting a license in New Mexico so he can work there.
Mississippi and New Mexico are two of the poorest states in the US, but they have vastly different positions on abortion policy and access.
Home to a Democratic-led legislature and governor, New Mexico recently took an extra step to protect providers and patients from out-of-state prosecution. A steady flow of people seeking abortions from neighboring states with more restrictive abortion laws is likely to continue.
One of Texas’ largest abortion providers, Whole Woman’s Health, announced Wednesday that it also plans to reopen in New Mexico in a town near the state border to provide first- and second-trimester abortions. It began winding down operations in Texas following a ruling Friday by the state Supreme Court that ordered an end to abortions at the four clinics.
Standing outside the Mississippi clinic on June 24, Derzis was pragmatic about the future of the building, which he painted bright pink a few years ago.
“This building will be sold and maybe someone will tear it down and put a parking lot here,” Derzis said. “And it will be sad, but it served its purpose and many women had their abortions here.”
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AP writer Susan Montoya Bryan contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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