Judge Keeps Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic Open

A federal judge has extended an injunction that is keeping Mississippi's sole abortion clinic open. The judge continued to block a state law requiring anybody performing abortions to have privileges to admit patients to a local hospital, the AP reports. State officials say the law is about safety, but the Jackson clinic says it has been unable to obtain privileges for its employees because local hospitals have ignored their requests.

The clinic's lawyers argue that the law's purpose is to create unconstitutional barriers to abortion, noting that the state's governor, lieutenant governor, and the bill's sponsor have spoken openly about wanting to end abortion in Mississippi. Previous laws caused all the state's other abortion clinics to close, and "this isn't just about the 20th state in the Union," writes LZ Granderson at CNN. "If the judge eventually lifts the injunction to the law, it may present the blueprint that conservative lawmakers use in the other 49 in an effort to outlaw all abortions." (More Mississippi stories.)