Mississippi Leans into Life

Townhall.com ^ | June 17, 2021 | Chuck Donovan

[Kaslin]

News that the Supreme Court has accepted a case out of Mississippi involving a limit on abortion later than 15 weeks has the talking heads chattering a mile a minute. Could this case result in a victory for advocates of life? Could babies be protected from abortion before “viability,” a point that has moved earlier in pregnancy but is not (yet) at 15 weeks? Could the Court even go further and reverse Roe v. Wade and later cases that struck down the pro-life laws of all 50 states?

Planned Parenthood’s former special affiliate, the Guttmacher Institute, has weighed in on another question that intrigues the media: What will the women of Mississippi do if the state does not allow abortion? In a fact sheet published at its website, Guttmacher could not help but note that Mississippi is not all-in for abortion. The state has three facilities that perform abortions, only one of which holds itself out as a “clinic,” the Jackson Women’s Health Organization. JWHO is the plaintiff against the state of Mississippi in the Supreme Court case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

News that the Supreme Court has accepted a case out of Mississippi involving a limit on abortion later than 15 weeks has the talking heads chattering a mile a minute. Could this case result in a victory for advocates of life? Could babies be protected from abortion before “viability,” a point that has moved earlier in pregnancy but is not (yet) at 15 weeks? Could the Court even go further and reverse Roe v. Wade and later cases that struck down the pro-life laws of all 50 states?

Planned Parenthood’s former special affiliate, the Guttmacher Institute, has weighed in on another question that intrigues the media: What will the women of Mississippi do if the state does not allow abortion? In a fact sheet published at its website, Guttmacher could not help but note that Mississippi is not all-in for abortion. The state has three facilities that perform abortions, only one of which holds itself out as a “clinic,” the Jackson Women’s Health Organization. JWHO is the plaintiff against the state of Mississippi in the Supreme Court case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has one center in Mississippi, in Hattiesburg, which does not perform abortions but does refer for them. Planned Parenthoods also market abortion pills, a hazardous practice that further distances expectant mothers from in-person medical care. The Hattiesburg Planned Parenthood center is operated by the Planned Parenthood Southeast affiliate, one of the affiliates that applied for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program COVID-19 relief funds and received between $350,000-$1,000,000, according to the Department of Treasury’s Loan Level Data made available to the public in July 2020.

Planned Parenthood is awash in taxpayer funds, but devoid of pregnancy services and general women’s health care. So we ask you: who is providing Mississippi’s women with the personalized, life-affirming care they want and need? As taxpayers and neighbors, we can say with confidence it isn’t the jaded abortion industry. It’s you and me, and we trust and pray the Supreme Court will hear our arguments and agree.