Mississippi May Close Only Abortion Clinic

Bill would make facility's doctors ineligible to work there
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 6, 2012 1:36 PM CDT
Mississippi May Close Only Abortion Clinic
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant.   (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Mississippi has just one abortion clinic, and a bill that's passed the state legislature would likely close it. All it needs now is a governor's signature, and Phil Bryant has said he'll provide it. Under the bill, doctors performing abortions in an "abortion facility" would have to have local hospital admitting privileges—which only one of the doctors at the clinic has.

That's because the rest live out of state, fearing threats were they to live in Mississippi, the AP reports. In his first state of the state address, Bryant promised to fight to make "Mississippi abortion-free." The bill, whose passage through the legislature was reported by the Clarion-Ledger, would "make it nearly impossible for women to get abortion care in their state," says an abortion-rights activist. (More Mississippi stories.)

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