Miss. legislative session ends with abortion bill passage
Rep. Rufus Straughter, D-Belzoni, blocked the immediate release of Senate Bill 3214 on Saturday with a motion to reconsider. The House today voted 88 -25 to remove the block, allowing the bill to move on to Gov. Haley Barbour.
“Don’t think for a moment that I’m naive enough to think you will change your minds,” Rep. Jim Evans, D-Jackson, told lawmakers as he spoke on behalf of reconsidering the bill.
Evans argued the anti-abortion bill was unnecessary and politically motivated.
Mississippi already has a law that bans public funding of elective abortions.
Evans said it was inappropriate for lawmakers to spend time arguing over abortion when the state faces a budget crisis.
“We fiddled while Rome burned,” he said.
Clarion Ledger
4/28/10
