Mississippi Governor Signs Abortionist-Certification Bill

April 25, 2012

Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill April 16 making Mississippi the first state to require abortionists to be board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists with admitting privileges at hospitals near their clinics, WORLD News Service reports. The state has only one abortion clinic -- the Jackson Women's Health Organization, where only one of the four doctors on staff has admitting privileges at a local hospital. It could be forced to close under the new law. "I believe that all human life is precious, and as governor, I will work to ensure that the lives of the born and unborn are protected in Mississippi," Bryant said when signing the bill, HB 1390. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization is run by Diane Derzis, who owns several abortion businesses in four states -- including the New Woman All Women clinic in Birmingham, Ala., which will close in mid-May after the Alabama Department of Public Health cited it for 76 deficiencies, including a series of botched abortions that resulted in multiple patients being hospitalized in one day this January. The law takes effect July 1, and Derzis said that if she can't comply with it, she intends to sue to stop it.