Newsweek: Mississippi Churning

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The States: Mississippi Churning

Anti-abortion activists in Ole Miss debate the wisdom of a frontal assault on Roe v. Wade.
Newsweek

March 20, 2006 issue - When "Jane" discovered a few weeks ago that she was pregnant, she nearly collapsed. She already has four kids, ages 6 to 18, to raise on her own, while working full-time as a housekeeper. "I'm struggling trying to take care of them," said the 33-year-old Vicksburg, Miss., native, who gave a fictitious name to protect her privacy. "I'm not financially able" to handle a fifth child. So she turned to what had always been, for her, an unthinkable and morally repugnant option: abortion. On her way in to the Jackson Women's Health Organization in Mississippi last week, anti-abortion protesters descended on her, imploring her not to "murder" her unborn baby. "It isn't that we're selfish, heartless people," she said once inside, her eyes brimming with tears. "When you have that baby, those people aren't going to be around to pay for Pampers or day care."

Her right to have the procedure, however, appears more imperiled than ever. For years, Mississippi anti-abortion activists have sought to shut down the Jackson clinic, the only remaining facility of its kind in the state. With their legislative allies, they've succeeded in passing some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, including a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that minors obtain the consent of both parents. Now the Mississippi Legislature is considering a bill that would ban all abortions except in cases of rape, incest or a life-threatening condition for the mother. Yet even some of Mississippi's right-to-life forces have started to wonder whether things are moving too fast—mirroring a strategic debate now raging among anti-abortion conservatives nationwide. "At this point, it's a little bit of a runaway train," says Terri Herring, president of Pro-Life Mississippi, who fears that the ban could backfire—and lead to a reaffirmation of Roe v. Wade.

The Mississippi bill began as an entirely different measure championed by Herring's group: a requirement that a woman seeking an abortion be offered a chance to view a sonogram of her fetus. But when the bill reached Democratic Rep. Steve Holland, chair of the House public health and human services committee, he stripped out the sonogram provision and inserted the outright ban. "I have been besieged over the last three to four years by the right-to-life people" and their myriad measures, says Holland. "The time has come" for an up or down vote. Now it's up to the Senate whether to approve the measure and send it on to Gov. Haley Barbour—who has said he would sign it—or to invite a conference to tinker with it further. Herring is hoping lawmakers will reinsert the sonogram provision. "We are not willing to abandon incremental legislation," she says—a strategy that has served her side well thus far.

(snip)

—Arian Campo-Flores


URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11786647/site/newsweek/

[KingFlorez]

1. This statement is good

"When you have that baby, those people aren't going to be around to pay for Pampers or day care."

The pro-lifers don't think about that aspect. These people protesting against choice really should put their time into creating a charity organization to help mothers who can't afford to feed their kids, so they could possibly prevent abortions for that reason. That is not their focus though, their focus is taking away rights.

[beyurslf]

2. NO when she has the baby they are going to be there screaming about

her having too many kids and not doing enough to take care of them. Hypocritical bastards.