An all-male panel of judges from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has, at least temporarily, struck down the Mississippi requirement that abortionists obtain hospital admitting privileges before committing abortions in the state.
The state’s sole remaining abortion mill, located in Jackson, is surrounded by hospitals that refused to grant privileges to the abortionists who practice there. As a result, abortion activists argued that the requirement posed an “undue burden” on women seeking abortions because Mississippi would have no operational abortion mills with the provision in place. Pro-life activists, on the other hand, hold that the provision is a basic medical necessity, without which women in Mississippi are denied essential protections in the event of an abortion-related emergency.
Requiring abortionists to possess hospital admitting privileges means that in the even that they botch an abortion, they will be able to accompany their patient to the emergency room to be present for her follow-up urgent care, and be able to apprise hospital staff of the circumstances that led to her condition. This information is crucial and prevents hospitals, for example, from having to essentially perform exploratory surgery to discover the extent and nature of the woman’s injuries or side effects.
And, lest readers assume that abortionists typically express humane concern for their patients and remain present during follow-up care, the opposite has been true more often than not.
Abortionists like Leroy Carhart have even grown notorious for their habit of abandoning injured patients following abortions that they botched. In some cases, this has even led to maternal death. Striking down admitting privileges laws is always good for Big Abortion. It is never good for women.
