A doctor who had previously lost his ability to perform abortions in an Allen County clinic has now been informed he can no longer practice them in his Gary clinic, either. Although reasonable people may disagree whether admitting privilege laws are medically helpful or not, the real debate isn’t about the medical necessity of these types of regulations. In a News-Sentinel article from December, Cathie Humbarger, Executive Director for Allen County Right to Life, made it clear what the real goal of these types of regulations is: “Our goal has been to make Allen County abortion-free.” In other words, support for abortion restrictions is part of a broader strategy of outlawing them without really outlawing them, so to speak.

This strategy may not work, according to the Fifth Circuit. In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel has affirmed a decision of the district court to issue a preliminary injunction preventing Mississippi’s last abortion clinic from shutting down. The clinic had argued that closing the doors of the only clinic in the state would put an undue burden on women in the state. Mississippi argued that they could just go to another state, as there are a number of clinics within a short drive from Mississippi’s borders.

The district court ruled that the clinic had a substantial likelihood of winning that argument, and therefore a preliminary injunction – preventing the law from being enforced temporarily while the court case moves forward – was appropriate. The panel of appellate judges agreed.

This doesn’t mean the clinic will win in the end, but it does signal that states hoping to stop abortion within their own borders may not be able to rely on the availability of abortions in neighboring states to defend restrictions. If that’s the case, then the entire strategy of keeping abortion legal, but simply making it too burdensome to perform, is fatally flawed.