Attorney: Mississippi's Proposed Abortion Ban Includes 'Socialist' Welfare Stipulation
by Jody Brown and Rusty Pugh
March 14, 2006
(AgapePress) - - While the media across the country watches a piece of pro-life legislation make its way through the Mississippi Legislature, an attorney is expressing his concern that, if approved, the bill could cause a huge welfare problem for the state.Mississippi's abortion ban is sponsored by Democratic Representative Steve Holland. The legislation, which has been passed by the State House, would ban most abortions in a state where there is only one abortion clinic. Exceptions in the case of rape and incest were approved before the House vote, but by a slimmer margin than the overall bill itself. The measure now awaits action by the Senate; Governor Haley Barbour has stated he would likely sign the bill.
Speaking in the Mississippi capital yesterday (March 13), Holland said he pushed through his measure banning abortions because he had grown weary of efforts to place restrictions on abortions. He has been quoted by Associated Press as describing those as "piecemeal" attempts. But now he is concerned that if the Senate changes the bill, it might die.
He told Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that he may not negotiate with the Senate if that body does not accept the House version of the legislation. "I don't want the House to have to go through that crap again," he said, referring to the contentious debate surrounding the House vote. The newspaper points out that should the measure be returned to the House, Holland's position as chairman of the Public Health Committee permits him to block another vote.
Some pro-lifers in Mississippi apparently prefer an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape and incest. Terri Herring, president of Pro-Life Mississippi, told the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson she was disappointed those exceptions were added. "I think it's our responsibility to have a pure pro-life message that has to be you don't kill a child for the crime of his father," Herring said.
A Christian attorney in Tupelo, Mississippi, also has reservations about the legislation. While he says the proposed ban plays to the wishes of pro-life advocates, Steve Crampton says it also creates a huge welfare problem that the state cannot afford. The attorney explains that the bill contains a provision that entitles any women who receives family counseling during her pregnancy to free medical and educational care until the child reaches the age of 19. That, says the attorney with the Center for Law & Policy, amounts to "guaranteed welfare."
"We joked in the office that I might take my wife by if she's pregnant, get a little counseling, and all of a sudden the state is now on the hook for all of our child's educational needs and medical needs until age 19," Crampton says. "That's an enormous bill to foot. It sort of codifies that socialist view of government that most of us stand staunchly against."
The attorney admits he is somewhat puzzled by Holland's bill. "It is a very clumsy effort in the law, and I think it really suggests Mr. Holland's own leanings in the area of welfare," he says. "Frankly, I'm not all that convinced of his pro-life credentials either, despite his authorship of this bill. I mean, it really makes me scratch my head as to what he was thinking at the time."
