The clock is ticking on Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s last abortion clinic, which will reportedly close in 10 days once a state law restricting abortion takes effect.
Jackson Women’s Health Organization was involved in the historic lawsuit that made its way to the Supreme Court and resulted in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey being overturned on Friday. The case, Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, originated over a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Townhall reported Monday how Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced that she published the required certification to the state’s administrative bulletin for the law to go into effect.
“Mississippi’s laws to promote life are solid and thanks to the Court’s clear and strong opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, they can now go into effect,” Fitch said in the statement. “As we have said throughout this case, Roe v. Wade presented a false choice between a woman’s future and her child’s life. As we proceed in this post-Roe world, the people of Mississippi and of all the states will be able to fully engage in the work of both empowering women and promoting life. I am grateful that the Court has given us this opportunity.”
Jackson Women’s Health Organization opened in 1995. It has been the only abortion clinic in the state since another one closed its doors in the early 2000s, The Washington Post noted in a report from November, right ahead of the Dobbs hearings on Dec. 1.
Diane Derzis, the owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, known as the “pink house” due to its bubblegum pink exterior, told the Associated Press that the clinic will close on July 7 when the new state law takes effect.
NPR reported that the abortion clinic is fully booked in its final days. It will soon close its doors for good.
NPR’s Rosemary Westwood said that “Diane’s [Derzis] been providing abortions since 1975. She told me before it’s her calling.”
Westwood added that the “pink house” will open a new clinic in New Mexico called “Pink House West” to help women obtain abortions. She added that Derzis presumes that abortions will not ever be legal in Mississippi again in “our lifetime or maybe your children’s lifetime” and “they will not stop helping women get abortions.”
Since 1973, over 63 million abortions have occured in the United States when Roe became law of the land, according to figures from the National Right to Life Committee. With Roe overturned, the issue of abortions is sent back to the states. Americans will elect representatives to create state laws on the issue.
“This decision is a victory not only for women and children, but for the court itself. I commend the court for restoring constitutional principle and returning this important issue to the American people,” Fitch said in a statement following the ruling.