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 Mississippi is among several states that have passed laws requiring
abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within
30 miles of their clinics. Some of the measures are under court
review.
A federal district court judge issued a temporary injunction in 2012
blocking the Mississippi law because it would have forced women
seeking abortions to go out of state. The same judge issued a second
injunction in 2013, which was upheld by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals last November.
The Mississippi Attorney General's Office argued in its filing that
the U.S. Supreme Court should weigh in on whether closing
Mississippi's sole abortion clinic places an undue burden on women
seeking the procedure when it is available in adjoining states.
A spokeswoman for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat,
declined to comment on the petition.
Abortion rights advocates urged the high court not to take the case.
"The Court should decline to review the sound determination that
Mississippi women would be irreparably harmed if the state were
allowed to close its last clinic," said Nancy Northup, president of
the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Abortion rights supporters say the law in Mississippi and similar
ones elsewhere impose medically unnecessary requirements targeting
providers of the procedure.
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Anti-abortion advocates have countered they are intended to protect
women's health, although some have also said they would likely
shutter clinics.
If the high court does not review the case, abortion rights
advocates expect it to move forward at the trial court later this
year.
(Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky in New Orleans; Editing by Sandra
Maler and Peter Cooney)
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