Abortion clinic faces closure

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP):Mississippi's only abortion clinic said it received notice last Friday that the state Health Department intends to revoke its operating licence.

However, the clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organisation, is not expected to close anytime soon.

Under a state administrative procedures law, the clinic can remain open while it awaits a hearing by the department. That could be more than a month away.

Clinic owner Diane Derzis said last week that she expected the notice about a possible licence revocation.

Health Department workers inspected the facility on January 16 to see if it had complied with a 2012 state law that requires anyone doing abortions at the clinic to be an OB-GYN with hospital admitting privileges.

Derzis said local hospitals would not issue privileges to out-of-state physicians, who do most of the abortions at the clinic.

pressure

Admitting privileges can be difficult to obtain. Some hospitals won't issue them to out-of-state physicians, while hospitals that are affiliated with religious groups might not want to associate with anyone who does elective abortions.

"They were clear that they didn't deal with abortion and they didn't want the internal or the external pressure of dealing with it," Derzis told The Associated Press.Republican Governor Phil Bryant, who signed the 2012 law, has said repeatedly that he wants Mississippi to be abortion-free and that he'd shut the clinic if he had the power to do it.