/State steadily restricts abortion

State steadily restricts abortion

Gov. Phil Bryant signed Friday’s “Mississippi Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act”. The law bans dilation and evacuation, which is the most popular method of ending a pregnancy during the second trimester. Rep. Sam Mims (R-McComb), who is the chairman of the House Public Health Committee attended the signing along with Lt. Governor. Tate Reeves, and Sen. Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) signed the bill. Bryant tweeted, “We’re making Mississippi safest for unborn children in America.” Mims couldn’t be reached for comment. The Legislature passed a 2012 law that required abortion clinic doctors to be board-certified OB/GYNs and have local admitting privileges. After 20 weeks, 2014 saw lawmakers ban abortions. In a press release, Nancy Northup, chief executive officer and president of the Center for Reproductive Rights stated that Mississippi politicians were obsessed with trying to shut down the state’s abortion clinics or ban abortion services entirely. Northrup said, “We call on politicians to address the real needs Mississippi women and their family instead of passing laws that jeopardize and rob them their rights.” The Guttmacher Institute’s 2003 report states that dilation or evacuation are safer than medical abortion to terminate second-trimester pregnancies. Diane Derzis is the owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This clinic is Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic. Center for Reproductive Rights attorneys are investigating whether the new law will affect the clinic. The case against Derzis’ clinic over the state’s 2012 admitting privileges law is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The so-called dismemberment ban was branded an example of “idiocy”, and “wasting taxpayers’ money and time.” Officials from CRR say similar bans to Mississippi have been overturned in other states like Kansas and Oklahoma. A federal judge in North Carolina ordered CRR to pay $1 million in legal fees to resolve a case challenging North Carolina’s law that required women who wanted to abort their babies to see a narrated ultrasound. To support this important work, you can make a regular donation to us today as part of our Spring Member Drive.