Abstract

Post-Roe Postcard: Is Ole Miss Our Future?

The article focuses on the pro-life movement and abortion law in Mississippi. As you read this piece about abortion in Mississippi thirty-two years after the right to have an abortion was affirmed by the Supreme Court, the government of Mississippi is marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in another way. Governor Haley Barbour has issued an official proclamation declaring the seven days leading up to the anniversary "a week of prayer regarding the sanctity of human life." How Mississippi all but outlawed abortion is a story people on both sides of the abortion debate are still struggling to understand. With the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, Mississippi's low number of abortions is not an illustration of the "safe, legal and rare" ideal that many talk about, in which a decline in unwanted pregnancies creates a corresponding drop in abortions. Such concern for the rights of fetuses does not appear to translate into a commitment to promoting the well-being of the children they may become. Though the inability to prevent unwanted pregnancies makes women only more likely to want abortions, many of the forces behind the anti-abortion movement here also oppose contraception.