- The owner of Mississippi's only abortion clinic said its doors will stay open for at least 10 days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
- At a news conference on Friday, Diane Derzis said that the clinic is also open to transporting people to other states for abortions.
- Shannon Brewer, the clinic's executive director, is now planning to open a new clinic in New Mexico.
Mississippi's only abortion provider will remain open for at least 10 more days after the Supreme Court ruled in the state's favor and overturned Roe v. Wade.
Diane Derzis, owner of the Jackson Women's Health Clinic, said that the clinic plans to stay open and continue providing abortion for at least the next ten days — and she expects pro-life demonstrators to continue harassing patients as they try to enter the clinic.
"We'll be seeing patients for the next 10 days, even if they have to do what they've done so often and that's come through this sort of terrorism," Derzis said on Friday at a news conference.
After that, Derzis said she plans to open clinics in other states.
Her statement came hours after the Supreme Court ruled in favor a Mississippi state law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, overturning the nearly 50-year-old decision that legalized abortion in America. Mississippi is one of 13 states with trigger laws which were put in place in anticipation of the Supreme Court's decision.
Mississippi's law requires the state attorney general to certify the Supreme Court's decision and allows for the clinic to remain open for 10 days after the certification.
Derzis, who lives in Alabama, said she doesn't yet have plans for what to do with Pink House, the large, bright pink building that houses the women's clinic.
Derzis said the clinic is open to transporting people in need of abortions to other states after the procedure becomes illegal in Mississippi.
"That infrastructure is not fully in place now, but the funding has been here for some time," Derzis said at the conference.
Pink House Defenders
Derenda Hancock, an organizer and a clinic volunteer also spoke at the conference. The clinic's volunteers, who call themselves Pink House Defenders, escort patients to and from their cars to keep them from being harassed by pro-life demonstrators standing outside.
"These people have given their time selflessly for all these years and now we're going to say goodbye," Hancock told reporters.
Hancock said that the overturning of Roe V. Wade was "just the beginning" and that "those religious terrorists that you see on our sidewalk are now in the legislature."
"We're not going to be done until this nation is a theocracy," Hancock said at the news conference. "I'm proud to say that there will still be clinics for I hope as long as possible, offering the services needed and I hope that the women in Mississippi are able to get there."
Shannon Brewer, the clinic's executive director, seemed to hold back tears while the thanked the defenders. Brewer, who has said she's planning to open a different abortion clinic in New Mexico, said she had been preparing for this day but "nothing can really prepare you for the actual date that it comes down."
"We're still fighting, We're just fighting in a different place," Brewer said. "I feel bad for the Mississippi women because these are the women that are needing these services, the very ones who are going to be needing it the most are the ones who won't have access to get it."