A new law in Mississippi would require anyone who provides abortions to be a certified OB-GYN with admission privileges for their local hospital. The law's purpose is said to be protecting patients from "unscrupulous practitioners", who might, I dunno, sell your unborn fetus on the black market or something.
In any event, the reality is that Mississippi only has one abortion clinic left as it is--the Jackson Women's Health Organization--and for a variety of red-tape reasons, none of its doctors are currently able to conform with the law. This is very intentional, and for all the talk about protecting patients, no less than the state's governor, Phil Bryant, has gone on record as hoping the law will effectively "end abortion in Mississippi".
In any event, while the law technically went into effect at the beginning of July, the one abortion clinic has remained open pending a federal review of the law. Today was the official hearing on the matter, and after hearing arguments from both sides, District Judge Daniel Jordan has elected to exend his official restraining order on the law's enforcement.
Though Jordan had not yet announced the length of the order, it is now up to the law's opponents to demonstrate that the law places substantial obstacles in front of those seeking abortions, which the Supreme Court has ruled in the past is unconstitutional so long as Roe V. Wade remains in place.
No comments:
Post a Comment