“If they think they’re going to make me feel badly about what I do … not gonna happen. I feel like God wants me to do this job.”UPDATE 8/5/15: Planned Parenthood is 'Doing God's Work,' Say Liberal Clergy
-- Diane Derzis, owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO)
For background, read Democrats' Life Mission is to Kill the Unborn, Says Miss. Governor and also read First Abortion-free State May Be Mississippi
Not surprisingly, Satanists For Abortion Shout Down Texas Christians Over New Abortion Restrictions
In addition read President Obama Asks God to Bless Planned Parenthood as well as Planned Parenthood's Prayer Vigil for More Abortion
-- From "Abortion clinic owner committed despite pressure" by Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press 11/23/13
She has been an abortion rights advocate for decades and owned clinics since 1996, but Derzis is facing some of the biggest political and legal pressure she has ever seen. She spars with pastors and politicians alike, and her latest fight is to keep open her Mississippi clinic, the last one remaining in the state.
In addition to the facility in Jackson, Derzis owns a clinic in Columbus, Ga., and one in Richmond, Va.
Derzis agreed to close [her Birmingham, Alabama] clinic in 2012 after the state Health Department found numerous health violations, including allowing unlicensed workers to administer medications. A physician then ran a clinic in the building, but a judge closed it in August because the facility wasn’t licensed for abortions.
Derzis talks openly about the abortion she had when she was 20, newly married and in college. She said didn’t want children, and knew immediately she wanted to end the pregnancy. Derzis said her mother told her she’d regret it, but she hasn’t. She said she was about 12 weeks along when she had the procedure, and the doctor was gruff and disrespectful.
“I thank God every day I had that abortion,” said Derzis, who later divorced and doesn’t have children. “It was not a great experience, but you know what? I had a safe abortion. And that’s what counts.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Controversy Roils Around Abortion Clinic" by Tyler Cleveland, Jackson Free Press 11/4/13
. . . abortion opponents rallied on the front steps of the Mississippi Capitol. Operation Rescue America leader Flip Benham preached to a crowd of about 20 supporters, most of whom had come to Jackson from different corners of the country.
Monday's protest came three days after JWHO and Wake Up Mississippi, a pro-abortion-rights political organization, began hosting "This Clinic is a Refuge," a week-long event to rally support for the clinic. Supporters held a women's rights poetry slam at Soul Wired Cafe Friday night and rallied Saturday outside the clinic and in front of the Governor's mansion.
In spring 2012, lawmakers threatened JWHO and its owner, Diane Derzis, with closure when they passed a bill requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges, which the physicians have tried and failed to get multiple times in the past.
Federal Judge Daniel P. Jordan initially blocked the law, then reversed course and allowed it with one stipulation—the clinic would be permitted to continue operations while its physicians continued to try to secure admitting privileges.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
In addition, read Abortionists Lament Ever-greater State Limits and also read Pro-lifers Prevail: More Abortion Restriction Laws
