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If Gov. Tate Reeves’ recent vetoes of 10 projects throughout the state totaling about $27 million stand, the power of Mississippi’s executive branch of government could again be expanded.

In 2020, the Mississippi Supreme Court expanded the governor’s authority when it upheld two partial vetoes by the governor despite multiple Supreme Court cases dating back to the 1890s that seemed to greatly limit that authority.

The partial vetoes of House Bill 1353 made by Reeves last week could enhance again the governor’s authority.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves blocks state funding for major Jackson park improvement, planetarium

As Reeves pointed out in his veto message, Section 73 of the Mississippi Constitution states plainly that “the governor may veto parts of any appropriations bill, and approve parts of the same, and the portion approved shall be law.”

Before the 2020 landmark Supreme Court ruling, the high court had said the governor could not veto what are known as conditions and purposes of appropriations bills, but instead had to veto the entire section allocating a sum of money to an agency.

The 2020 ruling allowed the governor to veto those purposes and conditions. Those purposes and conditions in the 2020 vetoes were $2 million for a hospital in Tate County and $6 million for a program to try to combat health care disparities in the state.

This year it appears the governor is again vetoing purposes and conditions of appropriations bills as the Supreme Court in 2020 interpreted the Constitution to allow. But the bill the governor partially vetoed last week — HB1353 — by legislative parlance is not an appropriations bill. It is a general bill, and nowhere in the Constitution is the governor given the authority to partially veto general bills.

“We take the position these vetoes are improper and not permitted under the law. That is something we are going to be looking at,” House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said on WJTV’s Mississippi Insight news program.

Gunn continued: “… I am not aware of any provision under the law that allows the governor to veto partially a general bill. He has to veto all of it or none of it … That may be more than people want to understand but there are differences in the types of bills we have up here.”

The Constitution provides a definition of an appropriations bill. Gunn and others said the bill Reeves partially vetoed does not meet the definition of an appropriations bill. Throughout the legislative process, House Bill 1353 was voted on as if it was a general bill, meaning it had a lower threshold of votes needed to pass.

On the other hand, another Reeves partial veto — $50 million for improvements to the University of Mississippi Medical Center — was in an appropriations bill. The bill is the appropriations bill for the University Medical Center.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves vetoes $50 million appropriation to UMMC

But whether the Supreme Court justices, whom some observers say displayed a surprising lack of understanding of the legislative process in their 2020 decision, will understand the distinction between general and appropriations bills or even care about the distinction is questionable.

After all, to a “lay person,” HB1353 looks like an appropriations bill. It contains a list of projects throughout the state that received a legislative appropriation.

But Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, who filed and won a lawsuit in the early 1990s challenging the partial veto authority of then-Gov. Kirk Fordice, said the money for the projects was appropriated in another bill that was passed and signed into law earlier by Reeves.

The money was appropriated, from the legislative standpoint, in the appropriations bill for the Department of Finance and Administration into various accounts.

The bill Reeves vetoed simply transfers the already appropriated funds from DFA to the various projects.

“We’re just transferring money from one account to another, or from one purpose to another,” Bryan said. “That is not an appropriation. That is a transfer. I understand that to be what they are arguing and will not be subject to the line item.”

Besides strengthening the governor’s authority, the 2020 ruling also reversed previous rulings that said legislators had “standing” to file a lawsuit challenging the partial veto.

The Supreme Court ruled the lawsuit had to be filed by someone or some entity that had been impacted by the partial veto. For instance, the governmental entities and other involved in the development of the recreational area at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park would have the authority to challenge the governor’s veto of $13 million for that project.

Bryan said the worst part of the 2020 ruling was stripping legislators of the authority to challenge the vetoes.

Bryan said it made sense, both legally and practically, for the Supreme Court to settle the dispute between legislators and the executive over partial vetoes.

“We have a Supreme Court that is liable to do anything completely incompetent,” Bryan said.

READ MORE: Amid vetoes, Gov. Tate Reeves lets pay raises for elected officials pass

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Bobby Cleveland – Rick’s brother and Tyler’s uncle – leaves an amazing journalistic legacy, plus legions of fans and friends. Rick and Tyler discuss what made Bobby such an unforgettable character, using clips from a Christmas podcast in 2021.

Stream all episodes here.

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The post Marshall Ramsey: Born appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Katie Blount, executive director of the state Department of Archives and History, said that the Two Mississippi Museums “stand at the intersection of Gov. William Winter’s three greatest passions: history, education and racial justice.”

It was at those museums — the civil rights and history museums in downtown Jackson on Tuesday — that Mississippi paid its final respects to Winter, the 58th governor and conscience of the state. Winter died in December 2020, a few months before his wife and partner of 70 years, Elise, passed away.

READ MORE: ‘One of the greatest Mississippians’: Former Gov. William Winter remembered by friends, dignitaries

Former President Bill Clinton, whose terms as governor of Arkansas partially coincided with Winter’s tenure as Mississippi governor in the early 1980s, was among the about 800 on hand Tuesday to honor both the Winters at the Two Mississippi Museums.

“We were neighbors and so much more,” said Clinton, who at age 75 is about 22 years younger than Winter was when he died. Clinton went on to say that the Winters “had the most unusual balance. They were highly intelligent, highly energetic and openly ambitious and as good as gold because their ambition was for something worth being ambitious about.”

The Winter family decided not to hold a public service for the Winters during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it would have been a tragedy to completely forgo such an event considering the Winters were part of the fabric of Mississippi for more than half of a century.

Winter was elected to the Mississippi House in 1947 and later served in a litany of statewide offices, culminating with his tenure as governor. It was during that tenure that his crowning achievement was realized: the Education Reform Act of 1982, which enacted public kindergartens and a host of other improvements to the state’s schools.

As Clinton pointed out, Winter lost two elections for governor before finally capturing the seat. Those losses were attributable in large part to Winter’s moderation on the issue of race.

“When we were governors, it was rare for someone who was actually winning (elections) to stick his neck out on civil rights and have a good time doing it,” said Clinton, referencing that “Bill,” as he called Winter, always remained upbeat despite those two losses. He attributed Winter’s positive disposition to Elise.

While the Winters had a long political career, they might have been as influential after leaving office. Elise was active in Habitat for Humanity and played a key role in the development of the program in both the state and nation.

Republican Haley Barbour, who served as governor in the 2000s, told of how Winter and Reuben Anderson, who was the state’s first Black Supreme Court justice and later served with Winter on the Board of Archives and History, brought him the plan to develop the Two Mississippi Museums. The plan was approved and funded by the Legislature during Barbour’s tenure as governor.

Barbour also recounted asking the Democratic Winter to serve on a recovery board after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005. He said Winter played a key role on that board “because he loved Mississippi.”

It was after leaving politics that Winter became synonymous with racial reconciliation. The Winter Institute of Racial Reconciliation was developed, and he apologized personally for some of his past rhetoric, though he was universally viewed a moderate on racial issues throughout his tenure in politics.

Anderson said when the state flag containing the Confederate battle emblem was finally taken down in the summer of 2020 and Anderson symbolically accepted the old flag as chair of the Archives and History Board, his old friend “was on my mind.” Anderson said the flag would not have been taken down if not for the work Winter had started many years ago.

At the event, Spence Flatgard, the current president of the Archives and History Board, which Winter served on for 50 years, announced that $5 million had been raised for the William and Elise Winter Education Endowment to ensure that all children across the state would have an opportunity to tour the Two Mississippi Museums.

Blount said the Winters believed “all of us, especially our children, must understand who we are and where we come from. And let us be lifted by (the Winters’) hope, by their faith that in Winter’s words, ‘We use our history to develop a more stable, more just society.’”

READ MORE: William Winter, former Mississippi governor who ushered in education reform, dies at 97

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The news that the U.S. Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade reverberated across Mississippi on Tuesday as pro-choice and anti-abortion activists and politicians took stock of what the leak means for the future of their movements. 

On Monday, Politico released a leaked draft opinion which indicated the U.S. Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, potentially setting the stage for the procedure to become illegal in Mississippi and many other states.

For years, Kim Gibson watched as Mississippi lawmakers chipped away at the constitutionally protected right to abortion as people outside the state responded with some version of, “That’s just Mississippi, it doesn’t matter.”

Mississippi reproductive rights advocates say the country is about to look a lot more like the state where they have long struggled — with limited support and resources from national organizations — to protect access to abortion.

By 2008, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the only abortion clinic left in the state. She and Derenda Hancock founded We Engage to reduce abortion stigma and help protect the “Pink House Defenders,” the clinic escorts who guide JWHO patients through the gauntlet of pro-life protesters outside. Now, the clinic is at the center of the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, through which the Supreme Court looks set to overturn Roe v. Wade and put an end to legal abortion in Mississippi and much of the rest of the country.

“Ignore Mississippi at your own peril, and here we are,” Gibson said.

Gibson said the Pink House Defenders and We Engage were focused on Tuesday on “business as usual.”

“Abortion is legal,” she said. “We all need to magnify that. We need to let patients know that today abortion is legal in Mississippi and will continue to be so until that decision is properly rendered.”

Gibson expressed frustration that while national organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America command large budgets and name recognition around the country, groups like We Engage are providing practical support to people seeking abortions in places where that act is met with hostility.

It’s too early to say what the end of Roe would mean for We Engage. But Gibson doesn’t see ending legal abortion as the end-game in Mississippi. She’s looking to the next legislative session with dread, expecting to see laws banning interstate travel for people seeking abortions and more.

READ MORE: What’s next if Mississippi abortion ruling overturns Roe?

“What it looks like is people giving birth in situations they don’t want to. It looks like people being forced to birth children,” she said. “People with means and money and privilege will be able to get the care that they need. Those that can’t won’t, and they will suffer consequences.”

When she heard the news, Laurie Betram Roberts felt like she’d been punched in the gut.

“There’s a difference between planning for something and living through it… seeing it in writing was so blatantly cruel,” Roberts, co-founder of Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund and executive director of Yellowhammer Fund, said. 

Roberts was especially disturbed by the way Justice Samuel Alito “weaponized race” in the draft opinion, noting the disproportionate number of Black fetuses that are aborted without also acknowledging the underlying equity issues that cause that to be the case. 

In a footnote, Justice Alito suggested that early supporters of abortion rights in America were motivated by racism.

“Some such supporters have been motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population,” Alito wrote. “It is beyond dispute that Roe has had that demographic effect. A highly disproportionate percentage of aborted fetuses are black.”

“To act as if we have no agency … it’s bizarre to hear that coming from people who do not advocate for policies that make it easier for Black and brown people to exist and have productive and happy and equitable lives,” Roberts said. 

Even though the leak suggests an end to abortion access in the Deep South and Mississippi, Roberts says she’s still hopeful that the end of Roe wouldn’t mean the end of abortion rights in America forever.

“Pendulums always swing back and extremists can only hold power for so long,” Roberts said. 

Roberts is also focused on what the work of her abortion funds would look like in a post-Roe world. That work will emphasize harm reduction and includes expanding education efforts around self managed abortions. It also includes fighting the criminalization of abortion by pushing health care providers to not report people who seek to terminate their pregnancies and pushing district attorneys to not prosecute them. 

Reproductive justice work doesn’t start and stop with abortion access, Roberts said. Many of the people who have interacted with abortion funds still need the other resources they provide like food, diapers and period products. 

“All that stuff counts and it’s essential,” Roberts said.

Pro-life activists were relatively quiet on Tuesday — there were no protests or events held outside the clinic in Jackson. Mississippi Today reached out to Pro Life Mississippi and Right To Life Mississippi for a comment but did not receive a response by publishing time.

Republican elected officials, who have long called for the end of abortion in Mississippi, strongly condemned the leak of Alito’s opinion and called for the Court to overturn Roe. 

“Everyone is rightly outraged over the alleged leak in the MS abortion case. Let’s think bigger. For decades, America has been uniquely radical in the West. Our abortion laws look like China & N. Korea. Please pray for wisdom & courage for SCOTUS. Countless lives can be saved,” Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted on Tuesday. 

Before oral arguments at the Supreme Court in December, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch took an early victory lap of sorts, walking in slow motion on the steps of the Court in a slickly produced video posted to her Twitter account and publishing a Washington Post op-ed arguing that women no longer need abortion access.

After the leak of a draft opinion that sided overwhelmingly with her office’s arguments, however, Fitch was circumspect.

“We will let the Supreme Court speak for itself and wait for the Court’s official opinion,” she said in a statement.

Phillip Gunn, Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, celebrated the legislation that led to the Dobbs case.

“MS House Republicans led to protect the unborn with the passage of HB1510, now on review in Dobbs. Their efforts put us in a position to protect unborn lives. While I condemn the leak, I pray the Supreme Court will stand up for the sanctity of life and overturn Roe,” Gunn tweeted.

The post ‘Ignore Mississippi at your own peril’: Advocates react to SCOTUS abortion leak appeared first on Mississippi Today.

On Monday, Politico released a leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito which indicated the U.S. Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, potentially ending the right to abortion in the United States and setting the stage for the procedure to become illegal in Mississippi and many other states. On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the document but said it does not represent the Court’s final position.

The justices’ votes could change, but if a similar opinion were ultimately adopted by the Court, it would overturn a nearly 50-year-old precedent upholding the right to an abortion in the United States. In Mississippi, a trigger law banning abortion in almost all cases would take effect soon after such a ruling.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito wrote in the draft, dated Feb. 10. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.”

Below, Mississippi Today has compiled answers to some commonly asked questions about the case. This post will be updated.

Q: The U.S. Supreme Court has voted privately to overturn Roe v. Wade. What does this mean?

A: In December, the Court held oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Mississippi asked the Court to overturn Roe, while Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the state’s only abortion clinic — asked the justices to reaffirm previous rulings supporting the right to abortion. Shortly after oral arguments in every case, the justices have a meeting called a conference in which they each discuss their stance. Politico reported that at the conference after Dobbs v. Jackson, Alito and four other Republican-appointed justices voted to overturn Roe. 

When the chief justice is in the majority, he assigns a colleague (or picks himself) to write the opinion. When he is not, the senior-most justice assigns the case. According to the leaked draft opinion, Alito was assigned to write for the majority to overturn Roe. 

Q: If the leaked document is a “draft majority opinion,” is the court’s decision final? 

A: No. The justices often complete many rounds of revisions before finalizing an opinion, especially in controversial cases. The author of an opinion may seek to make changes that could bring a colleague on board so that the final ruling has broader support, or they can make tweaks at the direction of a fellow member of the majority. Both the text of the opinion and the alignment of the votes could change, and on Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts said the leaked draft did not represent the Court’s final position. 

Q: When can we expect the Supreme Court to make a decision, then?

A: The Court generally releases rulings on more controversial cases late in its term, which is set to end in June. Most court-watchers expect a ruling in Dobbs by late June, though it could come before then. 

Q: What law is at the center of the case?

A: A 2018 Mississippi law that prohibited abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, called the Gestational Age Act. This law permitted abortions after 15 weeks only in cases of medical emergency or “severe fetal abnormality.” The law was a direct challenge to Supreme Court precedent because previous rulings have upheld the right to an abortion up until fetal viability — generally at about 24 weeks of pregnancy — when the fetus can survive outside of the womb. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans found the Mississippi law unconstitutional, and it has never taken effect. Mississippi asked the Supreme Court to overturn Roe to uphold the 15-week ban. 

Q: Is abortion currently legal in Mississippi?

A: Yes. Abortion is currently legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy in Mississippi. The clinic at the center of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, provides abortions up to 16 weeks of pregnancy. About 2,600 abortions were provided in the state in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Unless the Supreme Court formally issues an opinion overturning Roe, it remains the law of the land. 

READ MORE: Who gets abortions in Mississippi?

Q: Can I get abortion pills in Mississippi?

Yes. Jackson Women’s Health Organization offers medication abortions up to 11 weeks of pregnancy. Medication abortions account for seventy percent of all abortions in Mississippi. The process involves multiple pills with two kinds of medication, Mifepristone and Misoprostol, which cause a pregnancy to stop growing and trigger cramping and bleeding, similar to a miscarriage. The Food and Drug Administration permits medication abortions to be provided through telemedicine, but Mississippi bans that practice, so patients must visit a provider in person.

Q: If Roe is overturned, what does that mean in Mississippi?

A: Mississippi is one of 13 states with a “trigger law,” meaning abortion would become almost immediately illegal in almost all cases if Roe is overturned. The law allows abortions only “where necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life or where the pregnancy was caused by rape.” It does not mention incest and specifices that the exemption for rape applies “only if a formal charge of rape has been filed with an appropriate law enforcement official.” Passed in 2007, the law takes effect only if the Attorney General of Mississippi determines that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe and would likely not find the ban unconstitutional. 

Q: If the court does overturn Roe, is abortion illegal across the United States?

A: No. If the Court overturns Roe, there is no right to abortion in the United States, so states are free to restrict and ban it. But states can also keep it legal, and about 20 Democratic-controlled states have taken steps to protect abortion in state law. With almost every southern state set to restrict abortion if Roe is overturned, Mississippi reproductive rights advocates believe southern Illinois could become the closest destination for Mississippians seeking abortions. 

Q: What did Roe v. Wade establish?

A: Roe v. Wade established a constitutional right to abortion. The Supreme Court found in a 7-2 opinion that the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment contained an inherent “right to privacy” that protects a person’s right to choose abortion. The Court ruled that abortion could not be restricted during the first trimester and that during the second trimester the state could intervene only to protect the mother’s health. During the third trimester, states could pass restrictions but must always include an exemption to protect the life of the mother.  

Q: What did Planned Parenthood v. Casey establish?

A: By the 1980s, the anti-abortion movement was mounting challenges to abortion access around the country. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers passed a series of restrictions, including a requirement that married women notify their husbands of a planned abortion and a 24-hour waiting period. Planned Parenthood sued over the rules and asked the Court to determine whether they violated Roe. In its 1992 ruling, the Court reaffirmed Roe but also upheld all of Pennsylvania’s rules (except the requirement that women notify their husbands), opening the door to a new wave of abortion restrictions across the country. The Court established a new principle that restrictions on abortion are permitted so long as they do not impose an “undue burden” on someone seeking the procedure before fetal viability.

Q. How is Dr. Dobbs involved?

A: The case is named for Mississippi’s state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, but that doesn’t mean he was the architect of the 15-week ban or Mississippi’s request that the Supreme Court overturn Roe. The Mississippi State Department of Health, which he leads, regulates abortion clinics, so the 15-week ban would be enforced by his department. To challenge the law, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization had to sue his agency. 

Dr. Dobbs addressed this question on Twitter on April 24. “Why is the Supreme Court case named Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health?” he wrote. “Based on sovereign immunity protections plaintiffs must sue the head of the regulatory authority, which in this case is the State Health Officer, my current role.”

Q. In what circumstances would an abortion still be allowed in Mississippi if Roe is overturned?

A: Very few. The state’s trigger law would take effect 10 days after the state attorney general formally determined Roe had been overturned. That law allows abortions only to save “the mother’s life” or in cases of rape, but only when the rape has been reported to the police. It does not allow exceptions for incest, maternal health short of a life-threatening situation, or severe fetal abnormalities. The law also punishes people who perform abortions (“except the pregnant woman”) with one to 10 years in prison.

Q: Will this affect the availability of birth control/IUDs?

A: The short answer is no, at least not immediately. If the Court ultimately adopts Alito’s opinion or something similar, access to birth control and IUDs in Mississippi won’t be affected unless legislators pass a new law. Mississippi’s trigger law only applies to abortions, not birth control.

The longer answer is that advocates in Mississippi and around the country are concerned about what the fall of Roe would mean for contraceptive access. Opponents of abortion have sometimes sought to blur the line between that procedure, Plan B, and intrauterine devices (IUDs) — a form of long-acting birth control that prevents fertilization and thus pregnancy after sex. In Missouri, lawmakers recently tried (unsuccessfully) to redefine IUDs as “abortifacients” to stop Medicaid from paying for them. 

The founders of Converge, the reproductive health nonprofit now administering Title X family planning funds in Mississippi, recently told Mississippi Today that they want to make sure Mississippians know that birth control is legal. 

“If Roe is overturned, family planning care is probably next on the agenda,” co-founder Jamie Bardwell said.

Do you have more questions? Ask them here:

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Legislative leaders in Mississippi’s long-running efforts to ban abortion were pleased by news the nation’s high court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, perturbed by the way the court’s decision was leaked, and looking ahead to banning abortion drugs or making other changes.

“I am thrilled by the news,” said Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven. “I hate how it has come out. I hesitate a little bit on celebrating until we see a full report from the court … But I think putting it back in the states’ hands for individual states to decide is what is best. I think it should have always been that way.”

Currie in 2018 authored House Bill 1510, a ban on abortions after 15 weeks, which is now before the nation’s high court in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. On Monday night, Politico reported it obtained a leaked draft U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion that would overturn the 49-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision and allow states to regulate — or ban — abortions.

READ MORE: Report: U.S. Supreme Court set to overturn Roe v. Wade in Mississippi abortion case

Mississippi is one of 13 states that has a law on the books that would be triggered if Roe is overturned. That 2007 law would ban abortions in most cases in Mississippi. The state Legislature also passed another law — being blocked by a federal court — that would ban abortions at six weeks.

It would appear the decades-long push by conservative lawmakers in Mississippi is nearly won. But Currie and Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, another anti-abortion advocate, said there would likely still be work for the Republican supermajority state Legislature. Both said they would focus on banning abortion-inducing drugs.

“Depending on the outcome from the court, and if in fact abortions are outlawed in Mississippi, then the issue of chemical abortions, with drugs being overnighted from out of state, would certainly be fair game to address,” Fillingane said.

Currie said she “absolutely” would support a state ban on abortion drugs.

“You can go in at 10 weeks or earlier in a pregnancy and have a choice between the medication and the procedure, and I think that’s something that needs to be addressed,” said Currie, who is a registered nurse. “… I think that causes some big problems, when you give a woman a handful of medicine to go home and expel a child.”

Currie said she’s already seen reports about Congress attempting to codify the right to abortion that the Roe v. Wade decision had provided in federal law.

“That makes me very worried,” Currie said. “There are still hurdles in Washington, D.C. I perceive this being an issue that they would get rid of the filibuster over.”

Currie, Fillingane and others were angered at the unprecedented leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion, saying it was likely from abortion rights supporters hoping to change the majority opinion of the high court.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves addressed this on social media.

“Everyone is rightly outraged over the alleged leak in the MS abortion case,” Reeves posted on Twitter. “Let’s think bigger. For decades, America has been uniquely radical in the West. Our abortion laws look like China & N. Korea. Please pray for wisdom and courage for (the U.S. Supreme Court). Countless lives can be saved!”

House Speaker Philip Gunn on Tuesday tweeted: “MS House Republicans led to protect the unborn with the passage of HB1510, now on review in Dobbs. Their efforts put us in a position to protect unborn lives. While I condemn the leak, I pray the Supreme Court will stand up for the sanctity of life and overturn Roe.”

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in a statement said: “Personally and religiously, I am pro-life. I am very hopeful Mississippi will prevail in this case. This important constitutional decision to restore our state’s rights, however, must not be tainted by unethical and criminal leaks. Any effort to use political pressure to thwart the judicial branch of our government is unacceptable and dangerous.”

The post What’s next if Mississippi abortion ruling overturns Roe? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

On Monday, Politico released a leaked draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito which indicated the U.S. Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, potentially ending the right to abortion in the United States and setting the stage for the procedure to become illegal in Mississippi and many other states. On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the document but said it does not represent the Court’s final position.

The justices’ votes could change, but if a similar opinion were ultimately adopted by the Court, it would overturn a nearly 50-year-old precedent upholding the right to an abortion in the United States. In Mississippi, a trigger law banning abortion in almost all cases would take effect soon after such a ruling.

Mississippi Today wants to know what questions you have about the case.

The post What are your questions about where Mississippi’s abortion case stands? appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The U.S. Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, likely ending the right to abortion in the United States and all but ensuring that the procedure becomes illegal in Mississippi and many other states, Politico reported Monday night.

Politico obtained a draft majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito and labeled “Opinion of the Court,” in which the justices sided with the state of Mississippi in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito writes in the draft document, referring to the 1992 case that mostly upheld the right to abortion. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

In a statement, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, which argued the state’s position before the Supreme Court, said the Politico report and the opinion to which it linked could not be verified.

“We will let the Supreme Court speak for itself and wait for the Court’s official opinion,” Attorney General Lynn Fitch said.

The Court’s opinion on the case was widely expected to come in June. The document obtained by Politico is a draft that could change before the Court’s final ruling. The leak of the document is the first time in modern history that a Court opinion has become public before it issues its ruling, Politico reported. 

If ultimately adopted by the Court, the ruling would overturn a 49-year-old precedent, arguing that the 7-2 decision in 1973 was “egregiously wrong from the start.”

Mississippi is one of several states with “trigger laws” that will automatically ban abortion, with few exceptions, if the Court overturns Roe.

The Washington, D.C.-based news organization reported that during an initial vote on the case after oral arguments in December, Alito was joined by conservative justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. The alignment could change before the opinion is finalized, and justices often make multiple rounds of revisions before releasing a ruling. 

Politico reported that the three Democratic-appointed justices, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, are working on one or more draft dissent opinions. 

The publication reported that the position of Chief Justice John Roberts, who has shown more reticence than his fellow Republican appointees to overturn past rulings on abortion, is unclear.

The case stems from a 2018 Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down the law, finding that it ran afoul of the right to an abortion before fetal viability. Mississippi appealed that decision, and the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case in May 2021.

During oral arguments in December, Mississippians on both sides of the issue rallied in Jackson. 

At downtown Jackson’s Smith Park, the “Abortion Freedom Fighters” rally drew about 100 people.

“Mississippi has always been counted out, but today we showed not just the Supreme Court but the governor — we’ve shown people that we are not going to let y’all make decisions on our bodies,” said Valencia Robinson, CEO and founder of Mississippi in Action. “Women, pregnant people, nobody. Because if you’re taking one right away, you’re going to start trying to take other rights away.”

Outside the abortion clinic at the center of the Supreme Court case – the only such clinic in the state – the “Pink House defenders” were guarding the parking lot as they do every day. About 40 anti-abortion protesters prayed, their mouths covered in red tape printed with the word “Life.”

“God almighty visited you and gave you a baby. Will you save it today? Will you love it?” said Coleman Boyd, a regular protester at the clinic. 

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