Jackson Women's Health Organization

Jackson Women's Health Organization (abbreviated JWHO) is a women's health clinic located in a bright pink building in Jackson, Mississippi's Fondren neighborhood.[1] It has been the only abortion clinic in Mississippi since the only other one closed in 2006.[2] The clinic provides multiple reproductive health services, including abortions, birth control and checkups.[3] As of 2016, the clinic's owner was Diane Derzis.[4]

In March 2015, the clinic was severely vandalized, with security cameras destroyed and a generator severely damaged.[5]

Many Mississippi Republicans (including the governor, Phil Bryant) have attempted to close JWHO with TRAP laws since 2012, when Bryant signed a law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.[6] This was problematic for JWHO, because neither of its two doctors who performed abortions had such privileges.[7] In response to the law, JWHO filed for a restraining order to allow them to remain open temporarily. On Sunday, July 1, 2012, a federal judge granted them this order, preventing the law from being enforced until at least July 11, 2012.[8]

In 2013, Derzis told ABC News that both of JWHO's doctors lived out-of-state and flew in every week to work there.[9] In April 2013, Judge Daniel Porter Jordan III issued a ruling blocking part of the law that would have closed JWHO.[10]

In 2014, a divided panel of judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision blocking Mississippi from using the law to close JWHO.[11] In a statement accompanying the ruling, Judge E. Grady Jolly wrote that, "Mississippi may not shift its obligation to respect the constitutional rights of its citizen to another state".[12] In 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to review the 2014 decision, thereby allowing it to stand.[13]

In March 2017, a U.S. federal court permanently blocked the state of Mississippi from closing JWHO for noncompliance with the law, while still allowing the law to move forward.[14][15]

Additional cases were filed in March 2018 and December 2019.[16] In a 2018 lawsuit, the plaintiffs attempted to assert that there was a specific age at which the abortion would be wrongful ("Gestational Age Act").[17] This was later blocked by United States District Judge Carlton W. Reeves.

References
  1. Allen, Samantha (2015-03-13). "Working at Pink House, Mississippi's Last Abortion Clinic". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  2. Lockhart, P.R. (2017-05-05). "To understand the cost of the war on women, look to Mississippi". Mother Jones.
  3. Arnold, Amanda (2017-05-04). "A New Threat to Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic Moved in Across the Street". The Cut. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  4. Summers Jr., Tim (2016-10-12). "UPDATED: City Agreement Outrages Abortion Clinic Owner, Staff". Jackson Free Press. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  5. Cohen, David S.; Connon, Krysten (2015-03-25). "Not an Isolated Incident". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  6. Blau, Max (2015-09-28). "Owner of Mississippi's last abortion clinic won't stop fighting for her patients". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  7. Sheppard, Kate (2013-01-22). "Inside Mississippi's Last Abortion Clinic". Mother Jones.
  8. Rich Phillips; George Howell (2012-07-01). "Mississippi's only abortion clinic to stay open under restraining order". CNN. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  9. "72 Hours Inside Mississippi's Lone Abortion Clinic". ABC News. 2013-08-01. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  10. Robertson, Campbell (2013-04-15). "Ruling Prevents Closing of Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  11. Robertson, Campbell; Eckholm, Erik (2014-07-29). "Judges Block Abortion Curb in Mississippi". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  12. Liptak, Adam (2016-06-28). "Justices' Orders Underscore Ruling Against Abortion Limits". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  13. "Supreme Court Refuses to Review Mississippi's Clinic Shutdown Law" (Press release). Center for Reproductive Rights. 2016-06-28.
  14. Regan, Michael (2017-03-18). "Court blocks Mississippi law that would have shuttered state's only abortion clinic". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  15. "Federal District Court Permanently Blocks Mississippi's Clinic Shutdown Law" (Press release). Center for Reproductive Rights. 2017-03-17.
  16. "Jackson Women's Health Organization v. Dobbs, No. 18-60868 (5th Cir. 2019)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  17. "Jackson Women's Health Organization v. Currier [15-week ban]". Rewire.News. Retrieved 2020-03-23.


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