Abstract

PIP: Legislators or regulators in Mississippi, South Carolina, and Missouri have imposed burdensome and unnecessary clinic requirements on abortion providers. In each case, the legislators or regulators designed the requirements to make abortions more difficult to obtain. Mississippi, a state with only two licensed abortion clinics, already had restrictive abortion laws. In August 1996, it implemented stringent regulations on private physicians who provide abortion services in their offices. Some requirements include purchasing specific equipment, widening hallways, and hiring more staff. Several physicians have filed a lawsuit to stop enforcement of the regulations because they make the provision of abortion services so cumbersome and expensive as to discourage physicians from offering abortions. Antiabortion groups testified before the legislature that the Department of Health had been negligent in monitoring private practices for compliance with Mississippi's many abortion laws, particularly counseling requirements. The Republican governor signed the legislation in March 1996. In July 1996, a federal judge prohibited the South Carolina Department of Health from enforcing a new regulation making physicians who perform as few as five abortions a month to meet strict specifications for their office (e.g., disclosure of patient records and medical agreements). The regulation was a response to a 1995 law targeting private physicians who perform abortions in their offices. The judge held that the substantial changes in terms of privacy and expense could bring an undue burden on women seeking abortions. The state denied that the regulation would close clinics or would increase costs so much as to make abortions inaccessible. In September 1996, the House did not override the Democratic governor's veto of a bill that would have required all facilities where abortions are done to be licensed and undergo annual inspections and that would have required all physicians to have $500,000 in medical malpractice insurance and to have ob/gyn privileges at a Missouri hospital.