Jackson, Miss. --
A federal judge on Sunday blocked enforcement of a Mississippi law that could shut down the only abortion clinic in the state.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan issued a temporary restraining order the day the new law took effect. He set a July 11 hearing to determine whether to keep the block in place until legal challenges to the statute can be resolved.
"Though the debate over abortion continues, there exists legal precedent the court must follow," Jordan wrote.
The law requires anyone performing abortions at the state's only clinic to be a physician with privileges to admit patients to a local hospital. Such privileges can be difficult to obtain, and the clinic contends the mandate is designed to put it out of business. A clinic spokeswoman, Betty Thompson, has said the two physicians who do abortions there are doctors who travel from other states.
The clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, filed a lawsuit seeking to block it. The suit argued the admitting privileges requirement is not medically necessary.
"Plaintiffs have offered evidence - including quotes from significant legislative and executive officers - that the Act's purpose is to eliminate abortions in Mississippi," Jordan wrote in his order. "They likewise submitted evidence that no safety or health concerns motivated its passage. This evidence has not yet been rebutted."
If the facility were to close, Mississippi would be the only state in the country without an abortion clinic. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant has said repeatedly he wants Mississippi to be abortion-free.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, based in New York, helped file the lawsuit for the Mississippi clinic. The center's president and CEO, Nancy Northup, said in a statement Sunday: "Today's decision reaffirms the fundamental constitutional rights of women in Mississippi and ensures the Jackson Women's Health Organization can continue providing the critical reproductive health care that they have offered to women for the last 17 years."
The clinic says if it closes, most women would have to go out of state to terminate a pregnancy - something that could create financial problems for people in one of the poorest states in the nation.
A federal judge on Sunday blocked enforcement of a Mississippi law that could shut down the only abortion clinic in the state.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan issued a temporary restraining order the day the new law took effect. He set a July 11 hearing to determine whether to keep the block in place until legal challenges to the statute can be resolved.
"Though the debate over abortion continues, there exists legal precedent the court must follow," Jordan wrote.
The law requires anyone performing abortions at the state's only clinic to be a physician with privileges to admit patients to a local hospital. Such privileges can be difficult to obtain, and the clinic contends the mandate is designed to put it out of business. A clinic spokeswoman, Betty Thompson, has said the two physicians who do abortions there are doctors who travel from other states.
The clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, filed a lawsuit seeking to block it. The suit argued the admitting privileges requirement is not medically necessary.
"Plaintiffs have offered evidence - including quotes from significant legislative and executive officers - that the Act's purpose is to eliminate abortions in Mississippi," Jordan wrote in his order. "They likewise submitted evidence that no safety or health concerns motivated its passage. This evidence has not yet been rebutted."
If the facility were to close, Mississippi would be the only state in the country without an abortion clinic. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant has said repeatedly he wants Mississippi to be abortion-free.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, based in New York, helped file the lawsuit for the Mississippi clinic. The center's president and CEO, Nancy Northup, said in a statement Sunday: "Today's decision reaffirms the fundamental constitutional rights of women in Mississippi and ensures the Jackson Women's Health Organization can continue providing the critical reproductive health care that they have offered to women for the last 17 years."
The clinic says if it closes, most women would have to go out of state to terminate a pregnancy - something that could create financial problems for people in one of the poorest states in the nation.