Mississippi’s Republican governor was pressed on Nation World News Sunday over whether incest victims would be forced to give birth under the state’s pending anti-abortion law. Her only answer was that many pregnant incest victims are not.
The state has a radical “snapback” law on reproductive rights, if Roe v. Wade is destroyed. The matter appears to be taking place soon in light of the leak of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion last week.
The law has “no exceptions for incest,” noted “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper to Gov. Tate Reeves.
“So, assuming that the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the state of Mississippi would compel girls and women who are victims of incest to terminate those children. Can you tell that’s your law? Why is it going to happen?” Tapper asked.
“Well, it’s going to be law because in 2007, the Mississippi legislature passed it,” Reeves replied.
Tapper re-emphasized: “Why is it acceptable in your state to force those girls to raise those kids?”
Reeves: “Well, Jake, as you know, over 92% of abortions in America are elective procedures. When you look at the number of people who are actually involved, incest every year in America is less than 1%. is less.
Tapper also asked whether the state would force women to conceive who have no chance of survival.
“You’re working in instances that are rare,” Reeves said.
The 1% rape and incest figure is from a 2004 Guttmacher Institute survey, and assumes that the 1,200 girls and women in the study provided accurate information about sexual assault. There are 900,000 abortions in the US annually, which means that the 1% category would cover 90,000 individuals. About 3,500 abortions take place in Mississippi each year.
Tapper also pointed out that Mississippi has the nation’s highest rate of infant mortality and the highest rate of child poverty. She said it has no guaranteed paid maternity leave, and recently declined to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage. The state’s foster care system is also the target of a federal lawsuit for alleged failure to protect children from abuse.
Reeves said his state is trying to do better.
Watch the full interview in the clip above.
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