Abortion Ban in Mississippi

The Mississippi state legislature passed a law this week that would make abortions illegal in the magnolia state if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturns Roe v. Wade. The bill is waiting Governor Haley Barbour's signature. The bill was originally designed to presently ban all abortions except in cases where the mother's life was in jeopardy or in cases of rape. Rather than becoming a case to test Roe v. Wade, the bill was amended to only become law if Roe v. Wade were overturned. The argument advanced by some in seeking the amendment was that the Supreme Court is still one vote shy of overturning the 1973 case. Some call this type of law a trigger law because it doesn't challenge Roe v. Wade direclty but becomes law if Roe is ever overturned.

The reasoning by the Mississippi legislature's amendment was that the Supreme Court is still one vote shy of overturning Roe. I agree and have posted about it in the past. Might President Bush get an opportunity to make another appointment to the Court? There has been recent speculation that Justice Ginsburg might retire and earlier speculation about Justice Stevens. We'll see but certainly the court is one vote short of overturning Roe.

Jerome