Abortion clinic threatens closure, move if Roe falls

JACKSON, Miss. (Special) — The director of Mississippi’s sole remaining abortion clinic told NBC News May 3 that Jackson Women’s Health Organization on North State Street in Jackson will continue operations despite the leaked draft by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito that appears to show the court intends to overturn the 1973 Roe w. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

The court has said it will release its final, formal ruling early this summer in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization involving the Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks gestation. Thomas Dobbs is the State Health Officer for the Mississippi Department of Health.

If the Supreme Court indeed overturns Roe v. Wade, abortion in the U.S. not disappear. Rather, it will be left to each state to individually decide the issue as specified for such matters in the U.S. Constitution.

Shannon Brewer told NBC News that if the clinic in Jackson is forced to close, tentative plans call for a move to New Mexico where abortion is expected to remain legal. If the clinic closes, women in Mississippi will have to travel to more liberal states like New Mexico for abortions.

Brewer predicted for a poor state like Mississippi, that will have a detrimental effect on women who cannot afford to travel elsewhere. “It’s going to affect women who need it the most,” she told NBC News. “It’s not going to affect women who have the means financially to be able to get an abortion anywhere. They will still have access some type of way.

“That’s what devastates me. The ones who need it the most are the ones who will be affected… They seem to think if we outlaw abortion then abortion goes away, and people don’t have abortion. No, what you’ve done is taken away safe, effective abortion care for women.”

To view the full NBC News report, click here. To read the Dec. 1, 2021, oral arguments before the court, click here. To listen to the oral arguments, click here.