Scramble as last Miss. abortion clinic shuts doors

Mississippi’s only abortion clinic has been buzzing with activity in the chaotic days since the U.S. Supreme Court upended abortion rights nationwide — a case that originated in this conservative Deep South state and with this bright-pink medical facility that is closing its doors Wednesday. Physicians at Jackson Women’s Health Organization have been trying to see as many patients as possible before Thursday, when, unless there’s an unlikely intervention by the state’s conservative Supreme Court, Mississippi will enact a law to ban most abortions. Amid stifling summer heat and humidity, clashes intensified Wednesday between anti-abortion protesters and volunteers escorting patients into the clinic, best known as the Pink House.. When Dr. Cheryl Hamlin, who has traveled from Boston for five years to perform abortions, walked outside the Pink House, an abortion opponent used a bullhorn to yell at her. “Repent! Repent!” shouted Doug Lane. His words were drowned out by abortion rights supporter Beau Black, who repeatedly screamed at Lane: “Hypocrites and Pharisees! Hypocrites and Pharisees!” The Mississippi clinic uses out-of-state physicians like Hamlin because no in-state doctors will work there. As the Pink House prepared to close, Dr. Hamlin said she worries about women living in deep poverty in parts of the state with little access to health care.