Court Ruling Saves Lone Abortion Clinic in Mississippi

Mississippi's only abortion clinic will remain open—at least for now—following a federal judge's ruling yesterday that blocked part of a state law requiring abortion clinic doctors to have local hospital admitting privileges. The two doctors behind most abortions at the Jackson Women's Health Organization lack those privileges, the New York Times reports. The judge's ruling, which isn't final, bars the implementation of the law during its consideration in court.

The clinic sued over the law, which passed last year. Had the measure stood, Mississippi would have become the first state with no abortion clinics. "Closing its doors would—as the state seems to concede in this argument—force Mississippi women to leave Mississippi to obtain a legal abortion," the judge wrote. That "would result in a patchwork system where constitutional rights are available in some states but not others." (More judge stories.)