On Thursday, the Mississippi Legislature sent the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act to Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk, potentially paving the way for the Magnolia State to end its distinction as the only state without such a law. But the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, a leading group that has lobbied for legislation guaranteeing equal pay for women for years, was not celebrating.
Hundreds of young Mississippians and Alabamans knelt in a dark room, their foreheads to the floor and tears streaming down their faces as each mouthed inaudible prayers, a foreboding melody drowning out their voices. On the stage in front of them, violet lights illuminated the hair of musicians and ministers on the stage, save for a balding man with a thick mustache who squeezed his eyes and rocked back-and-forth as he spoke.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed this weekend that his state will swiftly move to enact a trigger law banning nearly all abortions starting from the moment of conception if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade.
A majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic Wednesday to the State of Mississippi’s argument that it should uphold the state’s 15-week abortion ban, imperiling almost a half century of precedent set by Roe v. Wade.
Dozens of Mississippi abortion-rights supporters gathered in the capital city over the weekend to organize and warn others about the impending peril to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found women have a constitional right to abortion care.
Ending most legalized abortions will “empower” more women to pursue careers while also raising children, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch told a Catholic television host late last week.
Mississippi’s justification for unconstitutional abortion restrictions has long revolved around the assertion that the laws, like the 15-week ban recently taken up by the Supreme Court, protect women and children. But the reality is now, and has long been, that Mississippi women and children’s health and economic security is not prioritized.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that upheld a woman’s right to an abortion before fetal viability. The brief is part of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case the nation’s high court is set to hear in the fall over Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves erroneously claimed during a weekend interview that 15-week-old fetuses can survive outside the womb. That is at least seven weeks earlier than the point at which fetal viability becomes even marginally possible, scientific studies show.
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