Pro-life Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch issued a statement Monday saying that a “trigger” law in the state can go into effect following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
A news release from Fitch’s office noted that Fitch published the required certification to Mississippi’s Administrative Bulletin for “what is known as the State’s trigger law.”
In a statement, Fitch said that state laws to protect unborn children can go into effect now that Roe is overturned, which sends the issue of abortion back to the states.
“Mississippi’s laws to promote life are solid and thanks to the Court’s clear and strong opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, they can now go into effect,” Fitch said in the statement. “As we have said throughout this case, Roe v. Wade presented a false choice between a woman’s future and her child’s life. As we proceed in this post-Roe world, the people of Mississippi and of all the states will be able to fully engage in the work of both empowering women and promoting life. I am grateful that the Court has given us this opportunity.”
The news release from Fitch’s office adds that under Mississippi’s trigger law, Fitch is “required to publish her determination (1) that the United States Supreme Court has overruled the decision of Roe v. Wade and (2) that it is reasonably probable that Mississippi’s trigger law would be upheld by the Court as constitutional.”
Fitch played a role in the Supreme Court overturning Roe. The abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the case that resulted in the overturn of Roe and Casey. Dobbs involved a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi. The court ruled 6-3 to uphold Mississippi’s law and 5-4 to overturn Roe.
In the Supreme Court’s opinion, the Justices wrote that the U.S. Constitution does not protect the right to abortion and determined that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided.
“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” the opinion stated.
“Like the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided. Casey perpetuated its errors, calling both sides of the national controversy to resolve their debate, but in doing so, Casey necessarily declared a winning side. Those on the losing side—those who sought to advance the State’s interest in fetal life—could no longer seek to persuade their elected representatives to adopt policies consistent with their views. The Court short-circuited the democratic process by closing it to the large number of Americans who disagreed with Roe.”
The language in the opinion is similar to an amicus brief filed by Fitch last summer, which Townhall covered. In her brief, Fitch urged the Supreme Court to strike down Roe and Casey.
“Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong. The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history, or tradition,” Fitch said in the brief. “So the question becomes whether this Court should overrule those decisions. It should.”
“The Constitution does not protect a right to abortion. The Constitution’s text says nothing about abortion. Nothing in the Constitution’s structure implies a right to abortion or prohibits States from restricting it,” Fitch continued in the brief. “Casey repeats Roe’s flaws by failing to tie a right to abortion to anything in the Constitution. And abortion is fundamentally different from any right this Court has ever endorsed. No other right involves, as abortion does, ‘the purposeful termination of a potential life.’”
Pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America issued a statement applauding Fitch for her role in overturning Roe and Casey.
“Attorney General Fitch’s bold leadership played an instrumental role in this great human rights victory and we’ve been proud to stand together, including a partnership to support more than 30 life-affirming pregnancy centers across Mississippi," SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said. "We are just getting started as we continue working together to build on the vast network of pro-life organizations that save lives through their love and service to both mother and child.”
Mississippi joins several other states, including Kentucky, Louisiana and South Dakota, that have legislation protecting unborn lives.