Mississippi Sen. Joey Fillingane, the Republican who authored Mississippi’s trigger law that banned nearly all abortions in the state, is falsely claiming that a new effort to enshrine a right to birth control in state law will legalize “morning-after abortions.” But morning-after abortions do not exist.
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn said on May 9, 2022, that “the Mississippi House of Representatives would not move legislation banning contraceptives forward,” describing concerns over the possibility in the event of the overturn of Roe v. Wade as left-wing “scaremongering.” But in 2011, Gunn endorsed the Personhood Amendment, a ballot initiative 58% of voters rejected that would have banned all abortions in addition to endangering several forms of contraception, such as IUDs and Plan B.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves left viewers unclear on his views about banning contraception during interviews on two national TV shows Sunday morning.
When Magnolia State state residents rejected the Personhood Amendment ten years ago this week by a 58%-to-42% vote, they defied national expectations. The Personhood Amendment, also known as Amendment 26, would have enshrined a definition of the word “person” in the state constitution that would have included even fertilized human eggs, theoretically banning all abortions.
Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban could soon make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, with the court set to decide whether to hear it on Friday. The court announced plans to consider hearing the case yesterday evening—just as the U.S. Senate voted on a party-line basis to confirm President Donald Trump’s third pick to the high court, Amy Coney Barrett.
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