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.
Special thanks to Pinkhouse Defenders.
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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.