Antiabortion Group Protesting For Closure Of Jackson, Miss., Abortion Clinic Denied Restraining Order Against Police

U.S. District Judge William Barbour on Tuesday denied a request by the antiabortion group Operation Rescue/Operation Save America for a temporary restraining order against the Jackson Police Department for alleged First Amendment violations during the group's eight-day protest targeting the Jackson Women's Health Organization, the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports (Cogswell/Rupp, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 7/19). Six abortion clinics have closed in Mississippi in the past decade, according to National Organization for Women Jackson Chapter President Michelle Colon. The Jackson clinic opened in 1995 and sees about 4,000 women a year, according to NOW President Susan Hill. OSA has said it is targeting the clinic this year to "send a message" to antiabortion advocates "that the battle to end abortion can be won" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/17). OSA filed for the restraining order because it said the police department was treating abortion-rights opponents differently than abortion-rights supporters and did not take action when they received a complaint about violence against an OSA member. Barbour ruled that there was not enough evidence to prove the need for a restraining order. Stephen Crampton, an attorney representing OSA, said he plans to appeal the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 7/19).

Protests
Police since the protest began on Saturday arrested 14 protesters, the AP/Biloxi Sun Herald reports. There have been reports of slashed tires, a bomb threat and other clashes between abortion-rights opponents and supporters (AP/Biloxi Sun Herald, 7/20). OSA members have been carrying signs and driving a bus that depict pictures of "bloody aborted fetuses," WLBT.com reports (Suares, WLBT.com, 7/19). Protestors on Tuesday outside the state capitol tore up copies of U.S. Supreme Court rulings related to abortion rights, religion in public schools and sodomy, as well as a gay pride flag and a copy of the Quaran, and later burned the items outside the Making Jesus Real Church in Pearl, Miss., according to OSA volunteer Pat McEwen (Gordon, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 7/20). OSA on Wednesday in small groups protested at 23 locations in the Jackson area -- including the clinic, the police department, Millsaps College, a high school and the Clarion-Ledger office (Gates et al., Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 7/19). The group on Thursday planned to bury a fetus in a local public park, according to the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. Jackson police did not say if such a burial was legal, but Cmdr. Lee Vance said, "How somebody would come into possession of a fetus is a legal issue." The clinic on Thursday saw patients from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., according to the Clarion-Ledger (Cogswell/Rupp, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 7/20). However, National Women's Health Organization security consultant McCoy Faulkner said patients and staff had been verbally mistreated (Rupp/Gates, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 7/20).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.