The Mississippi Health Department visited the Jackson Women's Health Organization last Wednesday unannounced and while it did not yet disclose the findings of its visit, the clinic's director admitted she was going to be unable to meet the law's requirement.
Now, set aside for just a minute the fact that what happens in that clinic is an intrinsic evil. Abortion is a procedure that is not without the risk of complication (beyond the obvious of what happens to the baby) for the mother. Having to transfer clients from outpatient settings to an inpatient facility is something that does happen in legitimate and reputable free-standing clinics and surgery centers of every ilk* that perform real surgery and is something to be avoided at all cost. When the unforeseen does happen, the patient deserves the best care in the most expedient manner possible. That's going to be difficult to provide when the abortionist doesn't have privileges at the nearest hospital.
I was thinking of the showdown between religious institutions and the Obama administration concerning the mandate that employers must offer birth control to its employees in the name of healthcare. I think those institutions should take a page from Mississippi and offer a more tactical response in terms of something the government and the insurance industry can understand - dollars and cents. No one needs birth control. No one needs surgical sterilization or an abortion. A legal argument could be developed that demonstrates why the Pill and abortion and vasectomies are not healthcare. They do nothing to correct a broken system or improve quality of life. I do not advocate abandoning the religious freedom angle, but I do think developing an additional approach that addresses practicality over morality might gain traction.
While listening to the abortion industry workers who were interviewed for Maddow's show last night, I heard one of them talk about how the protesters who stand outside her clinic know her name and how "creepy" it is that they call her by name and say hello to her every day. Isn't that how Abby Johnson's conversion came about? She is the author of the book Unplanned that chronicled her journey from a clinic director and abortion advocate to a pro-life convert who found refuge among the witnesses for life who stood outside her clinic every day, hoping to persuade women not to buy into the lie.
I pray that woman will be the next Abby.
(NOTE: I seem to have developed some sort of late-onset dyslexia in my old age. Please excuse grammatical and typing errors that I seem to be making with more frequency. When I find them, I correct them. Thanks)
*The kind of facilities that perform cataract surgeries, minor orthopedic and ENT and pain relief services.
