JACKSON, Miss. — The owner of the last remaining abortion facility in Mississippi told reporters last week that she believes God wants her to be a part of the abortion industry.

“I feel like God wants me to do this job,” Diane Derzis, owner of Jackson Women’s Organization, told the Associated Press in a report published on Saturday.

Derzis operates several abortion facilities in the south, including one in Columbus, Georgia and Richmond, Virginia. She also owned New Women, All Women in Birmingham, Alabama until the facility was ordered closed this past August by a federal judge.

“I thank God every day I had that abortion,” she told reporters, noting that she herself had an abortion as a newlywed because she did not want to have any children. “It was not a great experience, but you know what? I had a safe abortion. And that’s what counts.”

Christians from across the country have been working to shut down Jackson Women’s Organization in Mississippi as they desire to see Mississippi become an abortion-free state. Operation Save America and States of Refuge have had the location on their radar as Mississippi is one of five states that has just one remaining abortion facility.

“Imagine one state being set free from blood guiltiness,” Rusty Thomas with states of Refuge told Christian News Network. “If one state falls, it does send a message that it can continue in other states.”

“We’re going to trust God, and sing and pray and cry out to God to shut this death pit down,” said Cal Zastrow, who visits the facility throughout the year with his family to intercede on behalf of the unborn.

Zastrow and others have been participating in what they refer to as “church on the street” many days at the facility, and one day this year, they even conducted a Jericho march outside of Jackson Women’s Organization. On some occasions, over a hundred Christians have gathered to speak out for life at the facility.

Both Zastrow and Derzis were featured on ABC’s Nightline earlier this year, as Derzis contended to reporters that God was on her side in the abortion business.

“I know as fervently as they do that what I’m doing is moral and right,” she stated. “But if I’m wrong, that’s between the Lord and I.”

Footage also showed Zastrow calling out to Derzis, “I want you to quit killing babies. I want you to turn to the love of Jesus.”

“I have the love of Jesus,” she replied. “He approves of what I do.”

“No, you don’t,” Zastrow responded. “You have the murder of preborn children.”

Derzis has been fighting the law in the courts for over the past year as Mississippi legislators passed a requirement in 2012 that mandated abortion facilities to obtain admitting privileges in the event that a woman has an emergency on the operating table.

As none of the area hospitals would agree to work with abortionists, Jackson Women’s Organization has been unable to comply with the law. It was to be shut down earlier this year, but a court placed a stay on the order until a judge decides whether the regulation passes constitutional muster.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said that he would like to see the facility close.

“My goal, of course, is to shut it down,” Bryant he told reporters. “Now, we’ll follow the laws. The bill is in the courts now, related to the physicians and their association with a hospital. But, certainly, if I had the power to do so legally, I’d do so tomorrow.”

Zastrow said that he hopes that more Christians will be proactive in speaking up on behalf of the unborn.

“Abortion will end in America in the name of Jesus, but not while we sit in our churches,” he stated.

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