Pro-life group says police are protecting last abortion clinic in Mississippi

Days after the police in Jackson Mississippi watched as business owners took the signs from the pro-life group Created Equal, the organization has uploaded a video showing what they claim is mistreatment by the police again.

According to Created Equal, on Thursday July 17, 2014, Created Equal visited Jackson, MS, site of the state’s last remaining abortion facility as part of Day 4 of their Summer Justice Ride.

Sixteen days before the event, they say that they contacted the police to work out any details resulting in a conference call the day before with police and city officials.

According to Mark Harrington, founder of Created Equal, “It wasn’t until after our arrival that police informed us of a sign ordinance that they intended to enforce against our first amendment protected display.”

“Created Equal is law-abiding,” says Harrington, “However, no one needs a permit to be on the public sidewalk, and when law enforcement attempts to unequally enforce laws, we must defend our first amendment rights.

“The City of Jackson is required to guarantee everyone the right to free speech. Selective enforcement of commercial sign ordinances amounts to nothing more than harassment. The only reason the police were trying to require us to follow this obscure sign law is because we were opposing abortion outside the last remaining abortion mill in the state. I feel like I was transported back 50 years when Freedom Riders were harassed by Jackson police and business owners as white racists interfered with their right to use interstate commerce, ” Harrington said in a written statement.

According to the group, Operation Rescue, the Fifth Court of Appeals has just ruled that the State of Mississippi must allow the abortion clinic to remain open despite their dangerous medical practices.

According to Operation Rescue president, Troy Newman, “What is being missed here is that the one facility left in the state is engaged in substandard practices that endanger women. Would the Court think that if Kermit Gosnell operated the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, that the state would be forced to keep him in business? Diane Derzis’ shoddy abortion practices that have been documented to endanger women are little better. The Court was concerned that irreparable harm would come to Derzis’ abortion business if it was forced to close, but it seems it failed to consider the irreparable harm done to women who are exposed to shoddy abortions done by her primary abortionist Bruce Norman, who has a long history of hurting women. Shouldn’t protecting women from back-alley practices by abortionist who cannot qualify for hospital privileges trump protecting Derzis’ profit margin?”

Derzis was ordered by an Alabama court to shut down their abortion business in Birmingham after it was found to pose a danger to the public, and later, to be operating illegally. The group claims that the same practices that forced Derzis’ out of Alabama, are present at her Mississippi facility.