Abortion Providers in Mississippi & Alabama Post-Roe Want Biden to Federally Codify Right to Choose

Heeding outrage from reproductive rights activists, President Biden signed an executive order Friday to ensure access to abortion medication and emergency contraception in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. We speak to the heads of two major reproductive health centers in the Deep South about how they are providing patient care now that abortion is criminalized. Diane Derzis is CEO of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, which was at the center of the Supreme Court case that led to the overturning of Roe. The clinic closed soon after Roe was overturned last month, and plans to reopen in Las Cruces, New Mexico. We also speak to Robin Marty, operations director of the West Alabama Women’s Center, which just reopened on Monday to offer a selective range of sexual health services after discontinuing abortion services. “The only way to stop this is to absolutely pass federal law that protects a woman’s access to the most private decision in our lives,” says Derzis. “We are going to be a safe place that does not ask questions and simply sees people with bleeding issues and does what we are legally allowed to under the law,” says Marty.