Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who brought the Dobbs case to the Supreme Court and succeeded in getting SCOTUS to strike down Roe, spoke with Townhall on Friday morning backstage at the 50th annual March for Life on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Her key message: Americans have entered "a new chapter in history and we all get to write it," Fitch told Townhall. "And it's not just pages and written words, this has got to be a call to action." Here's what else the Attorney General who delivered the end of Roe had to say. Some of her responses were edited for space and clarity.
Townhall: This is the first March for Life since Roe was struck down — what does it mean to be here this year with a Supreme Court victory under your belt?
AG Fitch: It's amazing. What a time of celebration for all of us. 50 years we waited, here we are, and we now get to celebrate with one another, together. It's been a united front for 50 years. And you think about the streets that have been marched on, and prayed on, and the people who have invested, and now we have the opportunity to say, "Wow, we're here!"
It's just an amazing time. I feel very fortunate to be able to lead the team on the Dobbs case, I had an amazing team, we had partners, a coalition, but I'll tell you — everybody was invested across our country.
The prayers, the up-lifting. When we argued the case, we were very calm because we knew we had people out there that were lifting us up, and we knew we'd asked the right questions. We had framed our brief and our arguments to say "empower women and promote life." And then we posted up the hard question: "Overturn Roe v. Wade." Wow. And the justices agreed. So here we are, and what an amazing time for all of us.
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Townhall: Did you ever think it would be you bringing the case that would overturn Roe?
AG Fitch: Well, I did not. But I'll tell you, when you take the oath of office — I had that case there and we immediately filed and petitioned to the Supreme Court. So we were so excited when we were chosen because it could have been any number of abortion cases, but ours to was selected. I had an amazing solicitor general, Scott Stewart, and again the entire team — our partners, our coalition — all came together and we worked that case every day. It was important, and it paid off.
Townhall: As the Attorney General, you know what it's like to fight for life at the state level, where the fight is now centered in a post-Roe America — are you optimistic that more states will continue action to protect life as you have?
AG Fitch: I think it's going to be very well protected. We did ask the Court to return it to the states — we thought it should be returned to the people — and that's exactly where they landed. We knew every state would look different, but that's part of democracy at work. Again, there's so many great next steps and I think you've seen many many states go, "Ok, now we're here," but now the real lift becomes, how do we continue to move forward?
We just won this incredible victory, but there's so many things out there where the Dobbs decision gave us some new opportunities. So for instance, in Mississippi, we're working already with our legislature to post up some legislation on what we think are very impactful issues that need to be addressed that are really coming from Dobbs.
One being childcare — making it affordable and successful, and quality. You stop and look, those are the children that are going to be us someday, so what are we doing from the beginning to be supportive? It should be not so costly. Right now, it costs more to send a toddler or infant to daycare in Mississippi for a year than it does to send a student to one of our fine colleges and universities. That's unacceptable.
We have to look at workplace flexibility and have options, particularly for young parents. We tend to lose the young parents who don't have any options, particularly young mothers. We want them to stay invested and be a part of the workforce.
We're working very diligently on child support enforcement. Because the fathers should be equally responsible financially for their children. You know, the mothers for far too long have borne the burden and it's unfair. They need to be having the opportunity to be upskilled in education. But on the win-win side, if you have the dads invested, it's better for that child. It's a healthier environment.
One of the last big issues we're working on is adoption and foster care. I think they're failing our children and we need to connect our children with these loving families very quickly, very efficiently, and I think we've been doing a disservice — so we're looking to move that whole process and to make it better for the children.
Townhall: You and your team got rid of Roe, but now President Biden and Democrats say they want to "codify Roe" with legislation that's far more radical than anything Roe used to allow — what do you make of that?
AG Fitch: I think it's unfortunate, however I think conservative values and principles will continue to hold strong.
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