“And while I’m sure there will be talks all over America about” [birth control] it’s not something we spent a lot of time on,” Reeves told DailyExpertNews’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked if his state would consider targeting intrauterine devices and Plan B — too During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” later Sunday, Reeves said he didn’t think future Mississippi legislation would “apply to those who choose to use contraception.”
His comments come against the backdrop of mounting concern among abortion rights activists after Politico reported last week about a Supreme Court majority opinion draft that would bring down Roe v. Wade. The opinion is not final and it is possible that the number of votes will change before a formal opinion is issued later, probably in late June.
But already, lawmakers in both red and blue states are beginning to draw new battle lines in anticipation of a patchwork in which abortion rights are no longer protected nationwide.
Mississippi is one of 13 states to have passed a so-called “trigger” law that will go into effect almost immediately if Roe v. Wade is overturned. The state law says that within 10 days of the state attorney general confirming that Roe has been quashed, abortions will be banned in the state. Limited exceptions are foreseen in cases of rape or where the procedure would save the mother’s life.
Mississippi passed a separate 15-week abortion ban in 2018, which is the source of the case currently pending before the Supreme Court.
At the federal level, Senate Democrats plan to bring up legislation this week to codify abortion rights. The bill, known as the Women’s Health Protection Act, is not expected to pass because it takes at least 60 votes to overcome a GOP filibuster. In the evenly divided Senate, 10 Republican senators would have to vote for the measure, even though all Democrats voted in favor.
Roe v. Wade was celebrated in 1973 by abortion rights supporters and long maligned by critics. In 1973, it was decided to establish a constitutional right to abortion before the fetus was viable, which most experts believe now occurs around 23-24 weeks of gestation.
Overthrowing Roe would be the culmination of a decades-long project of the conservative legal moment.
“Each of us stands up, speaks out, gathers, marches, talks to our voters, raises their voices and their stories,” New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand told Tapper on Sunday. “This is the biggest fight of a generation.”