Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning

Ah, what more can you say about those “small government conservatives” as they once again attempt to place the big government they claim to despise between citizens and their doctors by taking away more rights and freedoms?

In Mississippi, the Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization — which operates the only remaining clinic to offer abortion services in the entire Magnolia State — filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of a state law meant solely to shut them down and nullify the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade.

The new law requires any physician who performs an abortion to be both a board-certified OB-GYN and have admitting privileges at a local hospital. According to MSNBC’s James Eng, this would almost certainly force the clinic to shut down because most of their physicians “live out-of-state or because local hospitals are reluctant to grant such privileges to physicians who perform abortions.” That closure would “lead some to consider unsafe and illegal alternatives that pose grave risks to [women’s] health, lives, and reproductive future,” according to Nancy Northrup of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

On July 2, Reuters reported that “U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Jordan issued a temporary restraining order,” stating that “plaintiffs have offered evidence — including quotes from significant legislative and executive officers — that the act’s purpose is to eliminate abortions in Mississippi.” On Wednesday, in a hearing on the Jackson Women’s Health Organization’s motion for a preliminary injunction, Judge Jordan, who was nominated to the federal bench by George W. Bush, extended his TRO pending his ruling. So the clinic stays open for the moment.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the Michigan legislature silenced a female colleague, Rep. Lisa Brown (D), when she responded to their anti-women’s reproductive rights measure last month by stating: “And, finally, Mr. Speaker, I’m flattered that you’re all so interested in my vagina, but ‘no’ means ‘no’.”

At least in that instance, the GOP “War on Women” produced an hilarious segment on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart entitled “The Vagina Ideologues”. If you missed it a few weeks ago, have a look…