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Abortion in the U.S.Mississippi anti-abortion Senate Bill 2922
Sponsored link.
Abortion in Mississippi:Approximately 4,000 abortions are performed annually in the Jackson
Women's Health Organization. This is the only location in the state where
abortions are available. Clinic personnel feel under siege. There is a permanent
Anti-abortion protestors stop every car entering the car park and try to pass
literature to those inside. There are 25 anti-abortion clinics distributed throughout the state who offer
counseling to women who are considering having an abortion. 10 A bill to ban all abortion in the state except for
those necessary to save the life of the woman -- a very small percentage of all
the abortions performed -- was proposed but died. It will not be re-filed until
at least 2007-JAN.
Anti-abortion bill introduced and is approved by committee:
As of early 2006, the state requires that minors seeking an abortion have the
consent of both parents. A 24 hour "cooling off" period is also required before
a woman can have an abortion. A Senate bill was introduced which would have required a pregnant woman to
view an ultrasound or listen to the heartbeat of the embryo or fetus that they
were carrying before being allowed to undergo an abortion. It was transferred to
the House for consideration. The House Public Health and Human Services Committee Chairperson Steve
Holland (D-Plantersville) said that he was displeased at the slow speed of past
attempts to chip away at abortion access in Mississippi. His committee amended
the bill to ban almost all abortions in the state. On 2006-FEB-28, the bill was approved by the Committee. It would have
permitted an abortion only to save the life of the woman. There was no exception
clause that would allow an abortion in other situations -- e.g. to preserve the
health of the woman, or in the event that the pregnancy was caused by rape or
incest. The bill states:
SECTION 1. Section 41-41-33,
Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-41-33. No abortion shall be
performed or induced in the State of Mississippi, except in the case of a
medical emergency or the presence of a life-threatening condition in the
mother that would be worsened by continuing the pregnancy.
SECTION 2. Section 41-41-39,
Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-41-39. Anyone who
purposefully, knowingly or recklessly performs or attempts to perform or
induce an abortion in the State of Mississippi, except in the case of a
medical emergency or the presence of a life-threatening condition in the
mother that would be worsened by continuing the pregnancy, shall, upon
conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of
Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), by imprisonment in the county jail for a
period of time not to exceed one (1) year, or both such fine and
imprisonment.
SECTION 3. The State of Mississippi
shall be responsible for the medical and educational needs of any child born
to a citizen of this state if the mother has received family counseling
during the gestation period and chose to continue the pregnancy to delivery,
and the child will be entitled to these services until the child reaches the
age of nineteen (19) and the mother agrees to allow for these services to be
provided to the child.
SECTION 4. This act shall take
effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2006. 6
It is not clear how the courts will interpret the clause "medical
emergency." The clause seems to have been ignored by the media. When asked whether he would sign the bill into law, Governor Haley Barbour
(R) said: "It hasn't gotten to my desk yet. When one gets there, we'll find
out, and I suspect I'll sign it. But I would certainly rather it come to my desk
with an exception for rape and incest. I think that's consistent with the
opinion of the vast majority of Mississippians and Americans." House Speaker Billy McCoy, (D-Rienzi) predicted that the bill would pass the
House and move to the Senate. He said: "As I live longer and longer,
the harder and harder it has become for me to accept abortion, period." But
he indicated that a bill without an exception for rape or incest would be "pretty
tough" for him to support. He continued: "It's also for those of us who
don't believe in abortion to think about the taking of a human life, regardless
of how it got started to be on this earth." Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck, (R) who presides over the Senate said: "I think this
body will look very strongly on pro-life issues." Nsombi Lambright, spokesperson for American Civil Liberties in Mississippi,
said that her group and other pro-choice groups might sue the state if the bill
becomes law. She said: "That's more of the state's legal resources going to
something that didn't have to happen."
1,2,3 Terri Herring, spokesperson for Pro-Life Mississippi hopes that the
bill will become law. However, she has some doubt whether there is a
sufficient number of conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court at this
time to overturn Roe" v. Wade --
the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion.
She said: "We're very excited about the possibility.
We have refrained from pushing this type of legislation until we could see that
the U.S. Supreme Court was ready to actually re-evaluate or overturn Roe. I
think all experts agree that we are at least one justice short of being able to
do that. Without knowing that God's hand is on this legislation, I think we have
to proceed with caution." 4 Mississippi law has one complication not shared by
other states that are considering similar laws (e.g.
Missouri and South Dakota). In 1988, the state
Supreme Court issued a ruling which found that the state's constitution implied
that a woman had a right to have an abortion. Thus, even if the U.S. Supreme
Court overturns Roe v. Wade, this state Supreme Court decision would stand.
Terry Herring said: "Until we overturn our own
Roe, we can't hope to get this bill to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the
other giant." She hopes that a conference between the House and Senate will
introduce a human life amendment to the Mississippi Constitution. That is the
only way that the state Supreme Court ruling could be overturned. She also wants to see the bill modified so that any
woman who becomes pregnant as a result of rape or incest will be forced to give
birth. She said: "A child should not be put to death for the crime of his
father. I can't support that." 5
On another occasion, she said: "We were disappointed that the rape and
incest exceptions were added. I think it's our responsibility to have a pure
Pro-Life message that has to be you don't kill a child for the crime of his
father." 6
The bill passes the Mississippi House:The bill was debated in the full House. Representative Erik Fleming
introduced an amendment to allow abortions in cases of rape or incest.
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Fleming said: "Regardless of the amount of counseling that may be
available, I think it’s an unfair burden." |
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Joey Fillingane (R) said: "The
product of that union is not criminal." |
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Rep. Jim Evans, (D-Jackson), a minister, said:
"If you've been raped by a low-life, no good, nasty, good-for-nothing
rapist, and now you're going tell a woman she's got to look at it for 19
years or some time and carry it for 9 months? What kind of human being would
do that?" |
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Rep. Warner McBride, (D-Courtland), referring
to female teenage pages in the House chamber, said: "I don't think it's
the place of the state of Mississippi to tell one of these young girls who
may be raped that they can't deal with that. I would say that I think it's
between them and their Lord." |
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Rep. Deryk Parker, (D-Lucedale) said: "God
knew us before we was [sic] ever conceived. Life begins at conception. God
does not make mistakes." |
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Rep. Eric Robinson, (R-Quitman), asked: "How many millions of souls
are crying out that's [sic] been killed because of this hideous practice
called abortion?" 8 |
The amendment was approved by a close vote of 62 to 56 after only two hours
of debate. The bill, as amended, was passed by a vote of 95 to 25 on MAR-02. It
now proceeds to the Senate. 5,6,7
Senate Public Health Committee Chairperson. Alan
Nunnelee, (R-Tupelo) said: "Hopefully we can use this as a chance to overturn
one of the most horrible court decisions since the Dred Scott decision."
(The Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court in 1857 ruled that all blacks,
whether free or enslaved, could never become American citizens.)
The National Women's Health Organization owns the
only abortion clinic in the state. Its president, Susan Hill said the
bill is part of a national anti-abortion movement to overturn Roe v. Wade. She
said: "We will challenge it. We're not going anywhere. We're going to keep
open." She said that the bill is a part of a national movement against
abortion access. She said: "I'm sure they thought they could get it done in
Mississippi faster." She predicted that if the bill becomes law, "Mississippians
will drive to neighboring states. They won't stop, just as they didn't before
Roe v. Wade."
Governor Barbour said that the goal of the bill should not
be to be used as a "test case. We ought to try to do it to protect unborn
children."
Terri Herring, of Pro-Life Mississippi predicted that the abortion
rate will drop when this bill becomes law. She said: "I
believe women are strong enough to deal with unplanned pregnancies. It will
cause people to be more responsible. The problem is most people aren't using any
self control or any birth control." 6
Bill killed and revived:
The bill passed the House by an overwhelming 94 to 25 vote. However, when the
Senators considered the bill, they made a few changes to the wording. This
necessitated a conference to harmonize the text. The time ran out before the
bill could be considered. 11
The House subsequently passed a resolution extending the conference
deadline so that the bill still had a small possibility of passing. 12
However, time ran out before a compromise wording could be agreed to for SB
2922.
Related essays:
References: The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
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Carey Gillam, "Battle brews as S. Dakota abortion law nears," Reuters
News Agency, 2006-MAR-03, at:
http://news.yahoo.com/.
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Emily Pettus, "Barbour says he'd likely sign bill to ban most abortions
in Miss.," Sun Herald, 2006-MAR-01, at:
http://www.sunherald.com/
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"Mississippi advances bill to ban most abortions. No exceptions for rape
or incest; Barbour says he’ll probably sign it into law," Associated Press,
2006-MAR-01, at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
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Terry Vanderheyden, "Mississippi Abortion Ban Bill Passes House; Moves to
Senate for Approval. Bill altered to include exceptions for rape, incest,"
LifeSite, 2006-MAR-03, at:
http://www.lifesite.net/
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Michael Fous, "Mississippi House passes ban on most abortions,"
Baptist Press, 2006-MAR-03, at:
http://www.bpnews.net/
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Laura Hipp, "House tweaks abortion ban bill. Legislators add exceptions
for rape, incest to health provision," The Clarion-Ledger, 2006-MAR-03, at:
http://www.clarionledger.com/
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"Mississippi One Step Closer to Criminalizing Abortion," Law
Librarian Blog, 2006-MAR-01, at:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/
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"Is Roe v. Wade doomed? The abortion battle is heating up as states pass
anti-abortion bills," ABC News, 2006-MAR-03, at:
http://abcnews.go.com/
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The status of the bill can be tracked at:
http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/
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Daniela Relph, "Abortion battle lines drawn in Mississippi," BBC
News, 2006-MAR-12, at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
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Tom Head, "Mississippi Abortion Bill Dies in
Conference," About.com, 2006-MAR-27, at:
http://civilliberty.about.com/
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Tom Head, "Mississippi Abortion Ban Has Nine Lives,"
About.com, 2006-MAR-28, at:
http://civilliberty.about.com/
- Deirdra Harris Glover, "Lawmakers Adjourn Session
Without Reaching Compromise on Abortion Ban," Pro-choice Mississippi,
2006-MAR-30, at:
http://prochoicemississippi.org/
Copyright © 2006 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2006-MAR-30
Author: B.A. Robinson
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