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One after another, multiple Republican state leaders spoke of the need to support mothers and young children at the Neshoba County Fair on Thursday, in the wake of abortion becoming almost entirely banned in Mississippi.
That said, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, Gov. Tate Reeves, and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn were hesitant to make commitments on policy positions like the potential expansion of postpartum Medicaid.
Mississippi has the highest rates of infant mortality and teen birth in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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In her speech, Fitch supported maternity and paternity leave in the state, along with stricter enforcement of child support laws and changes to make adoption less difficult.
“We move into a post-Roe world,” Fitch said, calling the new reality “an opening for us to seize the moment.”
While Fitch advocated for certain broad goals, she later said she would not advocate for or against postpartum Medicaid expansion, saying that decision is up to the legislature.
“Whenever the legislature makes their decision, we’ll be ready too,” Fitch said. “We only just support what they pass.”
Reeves advocated for a “new pro-life agenda” that supports mothers and children in a June 2 op-ed and said he is still in the process of putting that agenda together.
“What you’re going to see is a conversation over the next few months about various things that we need to do,” Reeves said. “What it does include is making sure that moms that are pregnant have the resources that they need.”
Reeves said some of those resources will come not from the government but from people of faith.
“The fact is this is going to be a challenge for the faith community, and I’m issuing a challenge to the faith community, that we all have to step up and make those things happen,” Reeves said. “We actually believe that government doesn’t do a lot of things very well, and we think that private faith-based organizations can do a much better job, and we see it every single day.”
Gunn is putting together a “Speaker’s Commission on Life.” He said he is waiting for the commission to give him recommendations before he endorses any policy positions.
“We’re forming that as we speak. We are moving on it. We’ve had multiple meetings,” Gunn said.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann also announced the creation of a “Senate Study Group on Women, Children, and Families” following the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Gunn said he believes his commission will work with the Senate committee, after conversations with its chair, Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford.
“She has indicated the willingness for us to coordinate what we do, and so I do plan to talk to her,” Gunn said. “His group is just legislators. I think they plan to have hearings and whatnot. Mine is going to include more than just legislators. Mine is going to include as I said, health professionals, childcare agencies, crisis pregnancy centers, and others, so I’m trying to gather a lot of information from a lot of different sources, people who are in the field, so to speak.”
Fitch said that despite there not yet being concrete policy positions, she believes the state will step up to support mothers and children.
“I’m very confident that we’re going to move in a positive manner in the state,” Fitch said.
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