By Gudrun Schultz
JACKSON, Mississippi, March 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A bill that would have banned most abortions in Mississippi failed to pass House and Senate negotiations before deadline Monday night. Lawmakers passed a resolution that extended the deadline, in an effort to reach agreement on the controversial bill.
Senate negotiators received the final House proposal about 10 minutes before the Monday deadline, from House Public Health Committee Chairman Steve Holland. Holland had revised the bill from its original form requiring women to see an ultrasound of their baby and hear its heartbeat before having an abortion.
The revised bill would ban all abortions, unless the mother’s life was at risk or in cases of rape or incest. Ultrasound provisions had been discarded and the bill did not offer protection to current informed consent laws, should the abortion ban be challenged.
Senate negotiators were concerned over the omissions and refused to sign the bill in the few minutes they were given for review. As well, the proposed ban would not take effect until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that made abortion a constitutional right.
Mississippi has one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, requiring the consent of both parents for a minor seeking an abortion and a 24-hour waiting period and counselling before all abortions.
Republican Gov. Haley Barbour had said he would likely sign the bill if it passed the House and Senate.
Alabama legislators have gone one step further than Mississippi, introducing legislation similar to that of South Dakota that would ban all abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, unless the mother’s life was at risk.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Alabama Legislators Push For Law to Ban Abortion
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06032704.html