CL – Miss. to decide abortion in 2011
Already, Mississippi has one of the nation’s toughest abortion laws, requiring a 24-hour waiting period and counseling before all abortions. Minors also must have both parents’ consent. The state has one clinic that performs abortions.
Because abortion rights largely were cemented in the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade case in 1973, it’s unclear what the anti-abortion amendment would do if it were to gain voter approval.
ACLU Mississippi Executive Director Nsombi Lambright said her group is reviewing the initiative. The ACLU’s position is the issue should not be placed on the ballot because it would interfere with the state’s Bill of Rights, which cannot be altered through the initiative process, she said.
“If passed, this could allow extensive interfering in the doctor-patient relationship,” she said. “This instantly puts the government and law enforcement right in the center of families in Mississippi.”
Lambright said she’s also concerned it could affect life-saving treatments, as well as treatments for infertility and abortion in cases of rape and incest.
Clarion-Ledger
4/2/10
Magnolia Tribune
