Gov. Reeves: If Roe Overturned, MS Abortion Ban Without Incest Exception Becomes Law

Governor Tate Reeves said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Mississippi trigger law will go into effect if the Supreme Court overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Mississippi is one of the states that has a trigger law passed in 2007 that will ban all abortions except in cases of rape or in cases where the mother’s life is at stake, with no exceptions for me incest, if Roe is overturned. This would require the state attorney general to certify that Roe v. Wade is no longer in effect. If the court rules as expected, is Mississippi going to implement that trigger law and make all abortion except in those two narrow circumstances illegal?”

Reeves said, “Mississippi has a trigger law in place. It was passed in 2007. That trigger law will go into effect if the draft opinion, which has been a bit of a bombshell this entire week from a national conversation and political discussion, but, yes, our trigger law will go into effect. It does have an exception for rape. It does have an exception for the life of the mother.”

Tapper said, “The snapback law that was passed in 2007 has no exception for incest. So, assuming the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the state of Mississippi will force girls and women who are the victims of incest to carry those children to term. Can you explain why that is going to be your law?”

Reeves said, “Well, that’s going to be the law because, in 2007, the Mississippi legislature passed it. I will tell you, Jake, this sort of speaks to how far the Democrats in Washington have come on this issue, but in 2007 when the trigger law was put in place, we had a Democrat speaker of the House, and we had a Democrat chairman of the Public Health Committee in the Mississippi House of Representatives.”

Tapper asked, “Why is it acceptable in your state to force girls who are victims of incest to carry those children to term?’

Reeves said, “Well, as you know, Jake, over 92% of all abortions in America are elective procedures. When you look at the number of those that actually are involved, incest is less than 1%. If we need to have that conversation in the future about potential changes in the trigger law, we can certainly do that. The reality is, again, that affects less than 1% of all abortions in America on an annual basis.”

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