A look back in time: Mississippi's abortion history
Mississippi lawmakers passed the nation’s most restrictive abortion law in March 2018, making the procedure illegal after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
For a decade, Mississippi has had one clinic providing abortion services.That wasn't always the case. In the 1970s, shortly after Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal, three clinics opened in three years. Three more abortion clinics opened in the 80s. But, one by one, they closed.
Forty-five years after abortion became legal in the United States, state lawmakers have repeatedly said they want Mississippi to be the "safest place ... for the unborn" while pro-choice activists have vowed to fight for women's abortion access.
The Clarion Ledger has examined abortion access and laws impacting abortion access in Mississippi over the years.
1973: The landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade makes abortion legal throughout the United States.
1975: Family Health Services, the first abortion clinic, opens in Jackson.
1976: South Jackson's Woman's Clinic opens in Jackson.
1976: Congress passes the original version of the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used to pay for abortion except to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest.
1978: Mississippi Women's Medical Clinic opens in Jackson.
1979: Family Health Services closes.
1985: New Women's Medical Center opens in Jackson and Bay St. Louis.
1988: Gulf Coast Women's Health Clinic opens.
1989: New Women's Medical Center closes both locations.
1991: New Women's Medical Center reopens its Jackson location.
1991: Mississippi's first targeted regulation of abortion providers, known as a TRAP law, is enacted, requiring women to wait 24 hours between a consultation and an abortion. The law also requires written parental consent for minors, which was not previously needed.
1995: Jackson Women's Health opens in Jackson.
1996: Mississippi's second TRAP law is enacted, requiring providers to hand out written medical risks, including that abortions cause an increased risk of breast cancer, which has since been proven inconsistent with evidence-based practice.
1996: The ambulatory surgical facilities state law imposes structural requirements on facilities.
1997: Gulf Coast Health Clinic closes in 1997.
2003: Mississippi Legislature passes a law that bars any public funds, including Medicaid funding, and a public facility from providing abortion care. Combined with the Hyde Amendment (noted above passed in 1978), this move effectively cuts public funding from abortion services.
2007: Mississippi Legislature passes a bill that minors must have a parental waiver to obtain an abortion in the state. Amendments to that bill include a mandatory ultrasound requirement, stating patients seeking an abortion must be offered a printout of the sonogram or the option of listening to the fetus' heartbeat. Another amendment of the bill makes abortion in Mississippi illegal 10 days after Roe vs. Wade is overturned, making an abortion a felony punishable by one to 10 years in prison, except "in cases necessary for the preservation of the mother' life" or when the woman was a victim of rape but "only if a formal charge of rape has been filed."
2007: State lawmakers pass a bill that minors must have a parent's permission to obtain an abortion.
2008: New Women's Medical Center in Jackson closes, leaving Mississippi with one abortion provider.
2012: The Mississippi Legislature passes a law requiring doctors performing abortions to be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology and have hospital admitting privileges. U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan blocks Mississippi from enforcing the admitting privileges portion of the law after the state's only abortion clinic sues.
2016: The U.S. Supreme Court blocks a Texas admitting-privileges law and declines to consider an appeal from Mississippi.
2018: U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan upholds the part of the Mississippi law requiring doctors who perform abortions to be board-certified or board-eligible in obstetrics and gynecology.
2018: Gov. Phil Bryant signs into law a bill banning abortions 15 weeks after a woman's last menstrual period. It's the most restrictive abortion law in the United States.
2018: Less than 24 hours after it takes effect, Jackson Women's Health Organization asks a federal judge to block the law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation.
2018: U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan grants a temporary restraining order to keep Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban from going into effect.
2018: The clinic expands its challenge, asking a federal court to block state restrictions that have been the law for years, including a 24-hour waiting period that requires a woman to make two trips to the clinic — one for counseling and one to have the abortion.
Mississippi data provided by Mississippi State University doctoral student Sarah E. Pellegrine; Clarion Ledger archives