JACKSON, Mississippi, June 24 (Reuters) – The decision that sealed the fate of the Pink House fell shortly after 9 a.m. local time.
“They ruled against Roe. Abortion is now illegal!” a protester called in front of the only Mississippi abortion clinic on Friday as word spread that the U.S. Supreme Court had overturned its historic 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, nicknamed the Pink House for its chewing gum-colored exterior, put itself at the center of the country’s legal battle for abortion rights after the high court agreed to hear the Mississippi challenge to Roe.
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For months, the clinic staff and volunteers had been preparing for the worst case scenario. The end of federal protections for abortion would lead to a ban on abortion in Mississippi and close the clinic.
Staff learned Friday that the clinic could remain open for another 10 days until the state’s trigger law goes into effect.
A group of volunteer companions in rainbow-colored vests, some of whom have helped monitor the clinic for nearly a decade, quickly returned to work trying to prevent protesters from blocking the entrance as dozens of patients arrived. their appointments.
“‘ Stay there, stand firm, ’” Derenda Hancock, a head escort at the clinic, told her group.
Tensions outside the clinic grew. The escorts repeated “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty, trying to drown the protesters who were shouting through the mechanics. A police car turned the block. A girl cried as she put a bouquet of flowers on the fence of the clinic.
Nervous patients coming out of the clinic rushed out of the parking lot, sometimes almost hitting protesters shouting “Love your little one” and pressing religious literature into the car windows.
The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, remains open in Jackson, Mississippi, USA, on October 27, 2021. REUTERS / Rory Doyle / File Photo
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David Lane, a pastor who has been protesting in front of the Pink House for years, told a woman driving to the clinic that she could not have an abortion. As the patient walked away, an escort from the clinic called him to spread false information.
“The reaction, of course, is not one of euphoria, but of gratitude,” Lane, 78, said of the Supreme Court ruling.
Once the Pink House closed, he said, he planned to start driving to North Carolina and Kansas to protest clinics there.
Cindy Janecke, a 58-year-old disaster recovery worker from New Orleans, arrived at the clinic in tears. She and her husband had been driving around the city on a road trip when she learned that Roe was overturned, and said she wanted to tell staff how much she valued her work.
“It’s a different day,” clinic companion Kim Gibson said. “We can’t let it be the last. We have to do something.”
During a press conference Friday afternoon, the owner and director of the clinic confirmed that they are opening a new location in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which they have dubbed “Pink House West.”
It should be ready for patients in the coming weeks, owner Diane Derzis said, and will be one of the nearest abortion clinics in Mississippi once Jackson’s location closes.
Shannon Brewer, the executive director of the Pink House, was in New Mexico preparing for the clinic’s opening when the Supreme Court ruled. Joining the press conference via Zoom, he suffocated as he thanked Jackson’s staff.
“We’ve been preparing, but nothing can really prepare you for the real day to come,” Brewer said. “We’re still here, we’re still fighting, we’re just fighting in a different place.”
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Report by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis
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