This Thanksgiving, We’re Thankful In Mississippi

The famous Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO) has something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

As Mississippi’s sole abortion provider, JWHO has served as a lightning rod in the national abortion debate. Just last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became another in a series of court cases to block an infamous 2012 Mississippi law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. The law, which came exceptionally close to shuttering the clinic, went through multiple legal challenges and appeals – including court decisions blocking or partially blocking the law in July 2012, April 2013, July 2014, and most recently, in November 2014.

While the appeals court’s November decision is certainly a win for the women of Mississippi, it’s far too soon to declare victory. The law’s supporters expect a trial court to consider the law next year, and should Mississippi ask, the U.S. Supreme Court has the power to lift the injunction.

The “admitting privilege” laws – a now-commonly applied tactic by conservatives and the anti-choice movement across the country – are some of the mostinsidious challenges facing reproductive rights advocates. Under the guise of protecting women’s health, legislators have claimed that abortion providers must have admitting privileges at a local hospital in the event of a complication.

In reality, abortion is one of the safest procedures available to women. The risk of death from abortion is just one-tenth of the risk of death from childbirth.

Not surprisingly, an examination of the facts has not stopped anti-choice legislators from introducing and passing these laws. In Mississippi, restrictive laws have had devastating ramifications. In a state of nearly 3 million inhabitants, the severely threatened JWHO clinic is a woman’s only in-state option, with just two abortion providers that have to fly in from out of state to perform abortions.

Oddly enough, it is that fact which saved the rights of Mississippi’s women this time around. The same U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked the state’s admitting privileges law actually upheld a similar law in Texas. The Mississippi law would have effectively banned abortion in all of Mississippi by closing its only clinic, forcing women to go out of state. This would have caused an undue burden on another state, therefore making the law unconstitutional.

Tanya Britton, a Pro-Life Mississippi board member, sums up the anti-choice perspective pretty succinctly: “There are a lot of places women can go if they want an abortion. They can go to Louisiana. They can go to Arkansas. They can go to Alabama.”

She’s right. Based on next year’s trial court decision, JWHO could close, and impoverished Mississippi women could be forced to take time off work, drive hours to another state, and potentially make the trip all over again, due to a mandatory 24-hour waiting period.

This Thanksgiving, let’s be grateful that Mississippi women can continue to exercise their reproductive freedoms for the foreseeable future.

Keep an eye out for a future post providing a deep dive into the history of admitting privilege laws in the U.S. – and what is next to come.

#Vacation