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SpartanDem

(4,533 posts)
Wed Jan 23, 2013, 10:11 PM Jan 2013

Inside Mississippi's Last Abortion Clinic

Jackson Women's Health Organization holds the dubious distinction of being Mississippi's only remaining abortion clinic. In 1981, there were 14, but thanks in part to increasingly repressive legislation, the others have closed.

Last April, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed a new law requiring any doctor performing abortions in the state to have permission to admit patients at a local hospital. That's a problem for Jackson Women's Health, since neither of its two doctors—both of whom fly into Mississippi to provide abortions—has admitting privileges. Bryant called the law "the first step in a movement, I believe, to do what we campaigned on...to try to end abortion in Mississippi."

Abortions in Mississippi are now only legal in clinics until 16 weeks of pregnancy—many other states permit the procedure up to 24 weeks. The state requires abortion clinics to abide by many of the same building codes as hospitals, even though other medical offices don't have to follow these rules. Doctors must perform a sonogram and offer the patient an opportunity to see the image and listen to the fetal heartbeat. All women must attend counseling with a doctor and then wait at least 24 hours before undergoing the procedure. Minors must have the consent of both of their parents. A few other states have passed some of these restrictions, but Mississippi has them all.

Mississippi already has one of the lowest abortion rates in the United States, with just 5 percent of women electing to end their pregnancies—compared to 19 percent nationally. It is one of just three states—along with North and South Dakota—that have only one clinic and zero providers who live in-state.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/inside-mississippis-last-abortion-clinic

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Inside Mississippi's Last Abortion Clinic (Original Post) SpartanDem Jan 2013 OP
the Dakotas are way worse off, even if MS loses its last clinic dsc Jan 2013 #1
K&R! Rachel Maddow's been covering this, too... Rhiannon12866 Jan 2013 #2

dsc

(52,162 posts)
1. the Dakotas are way worse off, even if MS loses its last clinic
Thu Jan 24, 2013, 01:35 AM
Jan 2013

Both Dakotas have only one clinic and in both cases the clinic is on the border with Minnesota meaning that much of the state is hundreds of miles from the nearest clinic. In the case of MS most would only be a hundred or so miles away. Not great but the Dakotas have it worse.

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