Last year, Mississippi's Governor Phil Bryant stated that his goal as governor was to “end abortion in Mississippi.” So far, a federal court has stopped him from doing that but earlier this week, a vigilante decided to do give the governor some help.
Sometime late Sunday night or early Monday morning, the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was severely vandalized. According to a post on the clinic’s website, the clinic’s security cameras were destroyed overnight and its generator was dismantled and seriously damaged. The post continued: “A review of our DVR showed that in the early hours of the morning, a masked intruder came onto the property and proceeded to methodically destroy our cameras. Other damage found indicates that they were trying to destroy the power lines coming into the building, no doubt hoping to stop all patient care for the near future.”
Mississippi's Only Remaining Abortion Clinic Attacked - Governor Can't Stop Legal Procedure
There are six states with just one clinic for a person to obtain a safe, legal abortion — Arkansas, Missouri,North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Mississippi.
What makes Mississippi's sole clinic stand out right now is the recent federal court ruling that Mississippi's TRAP law (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) is unconstitutional because the result would be no abortion access in the entire state. Predictably, last month the state asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.
A 2012 study that compared a state's restrictive laws about abortion to its number of reported incidents of harassment and vandalism against providers and clinics showed a direct correlation; the most restrictive states have the most harassment and vandalism.
Anti-abortion Violence in America
From the clinic's website:
"Coincidentally, we are currently enduring an extended period of targeted protest by the California based group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust," the clinic website reads. "Operation Save America has also come to Mississippi to harass our staff and our patients. Unfortunately by now we are all 'used' to the yelling and shaming these groups frequently bring with them. And even though we are now stripped of part of what makes us feel secure, we will find ways to adapt. Maybe it will be adding barbed wire to the roof……slowly morphing into a fortress, both intimidating yet reassuring. Of course the goal of the anti-abortion terrorists is to transform a legal, safe, and common medical procedure into a fearful, and traumatic experience for everyone involved."
Wake Up Mississippi
Gov. Bryant's vow, combined with the wave of conservative victories in the off-year elections of 2010 and 2014, has emboldened anti-choice zealots and they've always done their best work in the dark, whether it's vandalism or on election night.
"I want to be invisible. I do guerilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag. You don't know until election night." --Ralph Reed, Head of the Christian Coalition - The Hill, December 17, 1997