Abortion fight plays out on one street

by Mark Potter, NBC correspondent

In Jackson, Mississippi, recently we saw the latest trend in the national abortion fight playing itself out on one street corner. We'll show it to you tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

Outside the Jackson Women's Health Organization, the only abortion clinic still operating in Mississippi, dozens of young women coming in for abortions or doctor consultations were greeted by anti-abortion activists trying to convince them not to have the procedure.

Clinic officials say it's a daily ritual here that, while sometimes loud, is typically non-violent. For those of us who remember the many violent confrontations and even murders at abortion clinics in years past it's a dramatic change. It's also an indication a more effective method has been found by abortion opponents.

The latest tactic in anti-abortion activism involves legislation, and there standing with the protesters was Mississippi state senator Richard White, who has been promoting laws to severely restrict abortion providers. His ultimate goal is to end abortion altogether, and to
overturn its Roe V. Wade Supreme Court protections. The Mississippi legislature and many others around the country are the new battlegrounds.

Inside the Jackson clinic, the physician on duty, Dr. Joseph Booker, said "They're ultimately trying to close the clinic down, and they're trying to do it by putting more and more restrictions."

One of the women waiting in the lobby said a state law requiring patients to first come in for a consultation, then wait a day before actually having an abortion was very difficult and expensive for her. She had driven here from another county.

With the recent Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on late-term abortions, the anti-abortion protesters are feeling stronger now, and promise even more legislation next year around the country. Abortion rights supporters are quite concerned about this new twist in the long-time fight. It was all there on that Mississippi street corner.