Mississippi’s only abortion clinic shuts down, moves to New Mexico

The last abortion clinic in Mississippi officially shut down Wednesday, a day before a trigger ban against almost all abortion procedures is poised to take effect in the state, following the Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Shannon Brewer, who led the clinic involved in the controversial Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court case, told The Washington Post in May about plans to relocate to New Mexico, where abortion procedures are still legal.

Now, after a judge refused Jackson Women’s Health Organization’s request for a temporary block on the Mississippi trigger ban, Brewer told The Texas Tribune that her team is relocating services to Las Cruces, N.M.

As of the June 24 Supreme Court opinion, the power to regulate abortion now falls to individual states, creating a patchwork of laws that will require many women seeking abortions to cross state borders.

Many companies have promised to pay for such travel for employees, while Democratic states have sought to enact protections for those crossing state lines to access the procedure.

In late June, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order protecting medical providers in the state from “discipline due to an out-of-state resident receiving abortion services in New Mexico,” according to a release from the governor’s office.

Grisham’s order also established that “New Mexico will not entertain extradition attempts from other states relating to receiving or performing reproductive services.”

Abortions are restricted in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Utah, which border New Mexico. Texas made headlines last fall with a law that banned abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. This spring, Oklahoma banned abortions from the point of fertilization. 

In neighboring Colorado, the procedure is legal at all stages of pregnancy.