Mississippi AG says state must ‘strengthen the safety net’ as abortion clinic closes

Lynn Fitch, the Mississippi Attorney General. / LibandJustice via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 8, 2022 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said Thursday that now that legal abortion is banned in the state, it must act in a special way to support women and families.

“Today, in Mississippi, for the first time in many years, the will of the people as expressed through their elected legislators, is no longer held up in a court and will go into effect,” Fitch said July 7.

“Now, we must all work together to strengthen the safety net that women need not only for healthy pregnancies, but also as they build families where both they and their children thrive.”

Following attempts by pro-abortion organizations to block the state’s trigger abortion ban, Judge Debbra Halford rejected their argument at a June 5 hearing.

“The plain wording of the Mississippi Constitution does not mention abortion,” the BBC reported she wrote in her decision.

The trigger law was adopted in 2007. It permits abortion in the cases of rape and danger to the life of the mother.

Fitch said in her statement that “We need our laws to reflect our compassion for these women and their children. It is time for an open and frank dialogue” about the many actions that need to be taken in order to help women in need.

She cited as “the affordability and accessibility of childcare, child support enforcement that requires fathers be equally responsible for their children, workplace policies like maternity and paternity leave, streamlining adoption, and improving foster care.”

“It is time not just to talk about these issues, but to take action on them,” she concluded.

Fitch’s statement came following the final day of operation of the state’s only abortion clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which had advocated for the preservation of Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

According to NPR, the clinic owner intends to operate in a location where abortion is still legal, as well as refer women across the state lines of Mississippi.