The Only Abortion Clinic in Mississippi

Brut America

In deep red Mississippi, there's only one abortion clinic — 46 years after the Roe vs. Wade decision made it legal. We went inside.  Special thanks to Pinkhouse Defenders.

Transcript

00:00Mississippi is just a clinic desert.

00:02We have people drive from all over the state,

00:04can be as far away as four hours.

00:06We have patients from Louisiana, Alabama, Florida.

00:18When we get here in the mornings, we put our chairs out.

00:20We put panels up to help block

00:22so that the anti-choice protesters can't see over our fence.

00:26As much as we can do to allow the women

00:29a bit of privacy.

00:31We've had a huge increase in our protester presence

00:34and they've been escalating.

00:37They've become a lot more aggressive, more forceful,

00:41just stalking, harassing.

00:44I guess it's a matter of what you call attack.

00:47They do not attack the patients physically.

00:50As you see, they attack them verbally in every possible way.

00:54Murder starts with the mind

00:56and we're sowing that mindset here

00:58by the tolerance of this place right here.

01:17I just don't believe that people realize

01:20what it's going to be like in a world without Roe.

01:24We do have some of the strictest laws.

01:25We've been doing a lot of talking, a lot of strategizing

01:29in case it is to overturn.

01:31I mean, it's going to be an awful, awful bad thing for these women.

01:35We are one of four states that have a trigger law on our books.

01:38So, if it happens, within 10 days,

01:42abortion will be illegal in Mississippi.

01:45I mean, it's automatic here.

01:47This is the law.

01:48We should be able to provide this service for women.

01:51They're not adding the restrictions

01:52for the benefit of the women.

01:55They're adding them so that we can't comply to them

01:58so that they can close us down.

02:09We are kind of their bastion of hope

02:12between getting from point A to point B,

02:15their car to the clinic door.

02:17The patient is going through making a decision

02:20that for some women is very tough,

02:22and then they are faced with all of this on top of that.

02:26So, we try to be that one smiling face

02:30that can possibly calm them down and let them know,

02:33you're having a medical procedure.

02:36It's okay.

02:37It is so important to us to not only teach,

02:43educate these people what could happen without it,

02:46but it is also our responsibility to normalize it.

02:50We have got to change the narrative.

02:52We have got to change the way people think about it.

02:55It is a medical procedure.

02:58It is no different than anything else.

03:01And the stigma that both sides have attached to this

03:07is unbearable.

03:08And so, that's the most important thing we have to do.

03:11And with Roe coming up, it gives us a lot of opportunity

03:15to get that word out, and we have to start now.

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