The parents of a teenage Mississippi rape victim had to travel more than 500 miles to help their daughter obtain an abortion in Illinois, WAPT’s Megan West reported. The family told the local Jackson anchor that they learned their daughter was pregnant three days beyond Mississippi’s legal limit of six weeks.
A conservative litigation group filed a lawsuit this week to overturn Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice, with the goal of ending what may be a legal loophole protecting abortion rights in Mississippi.
At least 5,000 more babies will be born in Mississippi each year than in the past now that abortion is almost completely outlawed and the Magnolia State is not prepared to handle it, officials say. Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney shared that estimate with members of the Mississippi Senate.
Three years after blocking Mississippi’s six-week abortion ban, a federal judge allowed it to become effective Wednesday, citing the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Karen Hinton argues that courts and perhaps the Federal Drug Administration itself should uphold and regulate the rights of women in any state to access abortion pills through mail. “Women and girls can no longer trust anyone with the consequences of a decision to purchase an abortion pill,” she writes.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch told a federal court last week that U.S. law already makes mailing abortion pills a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and even racketeering charges.
Just over a month after the State of Mississippi succeeded in getting the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the traditionally conservative State of Kansas voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday night to keep protections for abortion rights in their state constitution.
Advikaa Anand, 18, writes that abortion is a complex moral issue, but choosing to keep one’s baby is just as difficult a decision to make than choosing to have an abortion—a difficult decision only pregnant persons should make.
“I think it’s important to understand that state abortion bans and restrictions will increase people’s need to travel out of state to get an abortion,” Social Work Professor Gretchen E. Ely writes. “This will prompt more people seeking help from abortion funds, which themselves are facing new kinds of legal and financial pressures.”
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
125 S. Congress Street #1324
Jackson, MS 39201
[email protected]
[email protected]
(601) 301-2021
The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).
