The owner of the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi vowed in a news conference Friday afternoon to remain open and continue to provide services to women for the next 10 days, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled overturning the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. abolished the whole country.
“We will continue to provide services, and women like me, and there are many in this country, will do the same. And I’m telling you today we’re not going to lie down. We’re not giving up,” said Diane Derzis, owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Under Mississippi law, the abortion ban imposed by today’s Supreme Court decision will take effect 10 days after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch confirms the decision. Fitch has not announced any plans for certification.
“So that means we’ll be open for the next 10 days and we’ll be seeing patients for the next 10 days. Even if they have to do what they’ve done so many times and it’s because of this kind of terrorism,” said Derzis, referring to anti-abortion activists who have regularly gathered near the clinic.
“I’ll tell you that any patient who contacts us, we’ll see. We will make sure to see them for those 10 days,” Derzis said. “A woman should not have to leave the state to receive medical care.”
According to DailyExpertNews’s Nadia Romero, anti-abortion activists began showing up at the clinic at about 4 a.m. local time on Saturday.
“It got really noisy, it got really carried away. The police were called,” she reported, adding that the situation has calmed down since then.
“They let women enter the facility hours before they technically opened because there was so much chaos going on outside,” she reported.
Clinic volunteer Kim Gibson told Romero that staff will “continue to put the patient first… in the face of some truly monstrous protesters”.
Romero said the lobby was packed inside on Saturday.
Once the Mississippi clinic is due to close, Derzis said they plan to continue helping women find the services they need.
“It funds all over the country. So we know how to put her in touch with those individuals and find out the closest clinic that you know, there will be women who can afford a plane ticket and if they can get on a plane and go to Las Cruces, or Baltimore Maryland or wherever, Chicago, Illinois, that’s where it’s easiest to get her in because her needs should come first,” Derzis said.
Derzis and her team have begun plans to open a new clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where they will continue to provide services.
Look what happened outside the Mississippi clinic on Saturday morning.