Roe v. Wade: Mississippi seeks protections for women and children
Mississippi is taking the “Next Steps for Life.”
Following Friday’s morning’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that prevented states from passing laws banning abortion, elected officials in Mississippi are already working to provide protections for women and children in what they are calling a new era in American history.
House Speaker Phil Gunn, R-Hinds, in a series of tweets following release of the court’s decision, said he plans to introduce “Next Steps for Life” legislation when the Legislature reconvenes in January 2023.
The bill would be created, Gunn tweeted, to provide “more effective” and “well-funded” child protections and foster care, making adoption available and affordable, and enhancing child support that would hold fathers accountable to ensure mothers are not bearing the burdens of raising a child alone.
This Next Steps for Life legislation will address:▪More effective & well-funded child protection & foster care,▪More available & affordable adoption;▪Next-generation child support enforcement to hold fathers accountable, so mothers don't bear the burdens alone. 3/3— Philip Gunn (@PhilipGunnMS) June 24, 2022
“The day so many prayed for is here,” Gunn said in a tweet. “HB1510 is law and Roe v. Wade is no more. With love for children and the women who bear them, we move forward to secure strong and lasting legal protections and cultural support for life, and a vibrant network of abortion alternatives.”
Gunn said he will work to form the “Speaker’s Commission on Life” and will appoint House members and experts on policy, women’s health, adoption, and child protection to help develop legislation.
“They will be charged with recommending “Next Steps for Life” legislation to be ready to take up in January,” Gunn tweeted.
Mississippi law, before Friday’s decision, banned most abortions at 20 weeks. The state had tried to pass a law in 2018 that would have banned most abortions at 15 weeks. However, that legislation wound up forming the basis of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization lawsuit that the court heard in December 2021 and led to Friday’s decision.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves called Friday “a joyous day.”
“Mississippi has led the nation to overcome one of the greatest injustices in this history of our country,” Reeves said. “Our state’s historic case before the United States Supreme Court was the catalyst for overturning Roe v. Wade and has made the nation safer for children than it was just a few short hours ago.”
The first-term governor said that “our work is not over yet” and the state’s objective was never to win a court case.
“It’s been to create a culture of life across the country,” Reeves said.
Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who argued the case in front of the Supreme Court, called the decision a victory “not only for women and children” but “for the Court itself.”
“Now, our work to empower women and promote life truly begins,” Fitch said in a statement. “The Court has let loose its hold on abortion policymaking and given it back to the people. The task now falls to us to advocate for the laws that empower women – laws that promote fairness in child support and enhance enforcement of it, laws for child care and workplace policies that support families, and laws that improve foster care and adoption.”
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