Court rules in favor of Miss. abortion clinic

Mississippi's lone abortion clinic can stay open after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday issued a ruling essentially dooming the state law that had threatened to close it.

The high court's decision upholds a preliminary injunction against House Bill 1390, which requires all abortion providers to be certified OB-GYNs and have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

Jackson Women's Health Organization has fought the bill since its April 12, 2012 passage, calling it an unconstitutional attempt to ban abortion in the state.

"I'm jubilant," said clinic owner Diane Derzis shortly after the ruling. "The courts did the right thing."

The decision didn't overturn the state law, but it did agree it places an undue burden on women seeking abortion in Mississippi, which is unconstitutional.

Constitutional law expert Matt Steffey called the ruling an enormous victory for the clinic.

Although the court "didn't strike down the law itself," Steffey said, "they did rule on certain of the state's arguments, and I think the way they ruled on those arguments essentially dooms the law."

Gov. Phil Bryant said he in press released Tuesday he is disappointed in the ruling, which he called an opinion "issued by a divided panel of judges and not the entire Fifth Circuit."

"I will continue working with the Attorney General as his office petitions the entire court to hear this case," Bryan said.

The decision applies only to Jackson Women's Health Organization and only in this particular case.

If another abortion clinic opened in Mississippi, it would have to attempt to comply with the state law just as Jackson Women's Health Organization had done, said Rob McDuff, one of the clinic's attorneys.

After the law's passage, Jackson Women's Health Organization tried to obtain admitting privileges for its physicians at the half dozen hospitals within a 30-minute drive. All of the hospitals refused, rendering the clinic out of compliance with the law and triggering state proceedings to strip its license.

If the clinic were forced to close, women seeking abortions would have to travel out of state.

Claiming such a scenario created an undue burden on women, Jackson Women's Health Organization won a preliminary injunction blocking the law in the U.S. District of Court in Jackson while awaiting a trial to determine its constitutionality.

That trial hasn't yet occurred, McDuff said. Nor is it clear such a trial will occur. If the state appeals the Fifth Circuit's decision and loses, its chances of blocking a permanent injunction would be slim to none.

"Today's ruling ensures women who have decided to end a pregnancy will continue, for now, to have access to safe, legal care in their home state," said Nancy Northrup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, in a press release Tuesday.

The New York-based organization filed the lawsuit on behalf of the clinic and provides its main legal counsel.

"But there is still only one clinic in the entire state," Northrup said, "and it is still threatened by a law advanced by politicians over the opposition of respected medical organizations, with the sole intent of closing that clinic permanently."

Although state lawmakers claimed the law is aimed at protecting women, many candidly revealed their hope it also would end abortion in Mississippi.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said in a May 2012 press release that the "measure not only protects the health of the mother but should close the only abortion clinic in Mississippi."

The high court ruled that "Mississippi may not shift its obligation to respect the established constitutional rights of its citizens to another state."

Mississippi House Public Health Committee Chairman Sam Mims, R-McComb, who sponsored the law, said it's intended simply to ensure physicians are certified and able to follow patients in a local hospital in case of emergency.

"I am disappointed," Mims said after the ruling.

Derzis said she anticipates the state will appeal the decision, as well as continue its attempts to close her clinic: "There will be more legislation, there will be more hoops to jump through."

Already an abortion battleground with the 2011 defeat of the controversial Personhood Amendment, Mississippi currently has one of the lowest abortion rates in the nation, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The Mississippi Department of Health reported 2,176 abortions in 2012, with four out of every five performed on minorities.

Thirty-nine other states also require OB-GYNs perform abortions, and nine states mandate hospital privileges, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sexual and reproductive rights.

Opposing such laws are the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which claim in a 2013 court filing that they actually put women at risk by making safe abortions more difficult to obtain.

"We all want to ensure women have access to safe medical care," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in a press release issued Tuesday. "This law doesn't do that, which is why leading medical experts oppose it."

Richards called the Fifth Circuit's ruling a victory for women everywhere.

Contact Emily Le Coz at elecoz@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7249. Follow @emily_lecoz on Twitter.