Miss. gov. targets last abortion clinic: 'My goal of course is to shut it down'

Republican Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant says that there is one abortion clinic in the state and "of course" his goal is to "shut it down."

A federal judge last year of a law that abortion-rights advocates say is designed to be so restrictive that it effectively abolishes abortion in the state. Under the law, Mississippi's only abortion clinic would need toget "admission privileges" from local hospitals, which have not been willing to cooperate.

The judge's order is set to expire on Friday and state officials have said that they will make an unannounced visit to the clinic in Jackson to determine if it was able to comply.

"My goal of course is to shut it down," Bryant told a group of pastors in video captured by WJTV on Thursday.

Last April, Brayant told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins that Democrats had tried to kill the abortion clinic bill because "their one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb."

The state of Mississippi has until Friday to respond after the Center for Reproductive Rights asked a judge to enjoin enforcement while a lawsuit to completely block the law it litigated.

"We know that the clinic can't come into compliance with the law and we also know that the Department of Health is going to remove their license as a consequence," Center for Reproductive Rights staff attorney Michelle Movahead told WJTV.

A 2011 analysis by the Guttmacher Institute found that Mississippi had the highest rate of unplanned pregnancies in the country.

Watch this video from WJTV, broadcast Jan. 10, 2013.

(h/t: Think Progress)