Photo courtesy of the Clarion Ledger
The equipment and furniture in the building have been moved to a New Mexico abortion clinic.
The building known as the “pink house” that had been Mississippi’s only abortion clinic until it closed its doors on July 6th has been sold.
The clinic shutdown ahead of the state’s trigger law banning abortion expect where there is a formal charge of rape or to preserve the mother’s life and has since filed a lawsuit challenging that law. This came after Mississippi Attorney General certified and published the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade as part of Mississippi’s case – Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – defending its 15-week abortion ban.
Fitch put the abortion clinic on notice that the trigger law would be in effect in the state as of July 7th.
Even if the clinic, operated as Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO), is successful in their lawsuit and allowed to open in the state, the owner told the Associated Press as reported by WJTV on Monday that the clinic will not reopen. The equipment and furniture have been moved to New Mexico.
RELATED: Clinic, activists file last minute lawsuit to invalidate Mississippi trigger law
“Diane Derzis said the furniture and equipment from Jackson Women’s Health Organization have been moved to a new abortion clinic she will open soon in Las Cruces, New Mexico,” WJTV’s story stated.
The owner went on to say that she did not know what the new owner of the building will use it for but “said she does not think the building will be used as a medical facility.”
The lawsuit filed by JWHO challenging Mississippi’s trigger law was shot down by a special judge appointed to hear the case by the state Supreme Court on July 5th after all Hinds County Chancery Court judges recused themselves.
RELATED: Abortion clinic, Attorney General argue their case at hearing on Mississippi’s trigger law
JWHO then filed an appeal days later, seeking relief from the Mississippi Supreme Court. Justices did not rush the case, setting a July 25th deadline for response from the Mississippi Attorney General.
READ MORE: Now shuttered abortion clinic appeals Mississippi trigger law decision to state Supreme Court
Rob McDuff of the Mississippi Center for Justice is representing JWHO in their lawsuit. When he filed the appeal, he stated that while the clinic has been forced to stop scheduling patients and providing abortions, they are asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to block that ban and the related Six-Week Ban and let the clinic reopen as soon as possible.
“We are doing all we can to allow the clinic to keep serving patients,” McDuff said in a statement.
However, the sale of the building and the owner’s stated intent of not reopening the clinic in Mississippi, even if allowed to do so, sharply undermines McDuff’s comments.
Frank Corder
