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17 May, 5 tweets, 3 min read
THREAD: In 2019, I reported in @JxnFreePress that Mississippi lawmakers' weren't passing abortion bans simply to ban abortion in Mississippi.

Their true goal: To get a case to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade nationwide. 1/
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/… A Jackson Free Press magazine cover from 2019 shows a man wi
As Trump began remaking the Supreme Court, I reported in 2019, anti-abortion lawmakers in the Mississippi Legislature saw, for the first time in decades, "an opportunity to achieve the holy grail of the pro-life movement: the overturn of Roe v. Wade." 2/
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/…
With Trump fundamentally altering the Supreme Court, which had a 5-3 pro-Roe majority on the day of the 2016 election, anti-abortion lawmakers set out to make Mississippi "the battleground for Roe v. Wade's future."

Today, they succeeded. 3/ jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/…
The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will hear a Mississippi case challenging Roe v. Wade in defense of the state’s 15-week abortion.

Anti-abortion activists and leaders hope the case will be the death knell to abortion rights. 4/ mississippifreepress.org/12273/u-s-supr…
In 2019, Mississippi State Sen. Joey Fillingane, who was among the 15-week ban’s sponsors, told this reporter that Trump’s remaking of the Supreme Court means that it is “a good time to start testing the limits of Roe.” 5/ jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/oct/…

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More from @ashtonpittman

Ashton Pittman Profile picture
19 May
Sinéad O'Connor: "I feel that having a No. 1 record derailed my career & my tearing the photo [of the Pope] put me back on the right track.”

"O’Connor saw herself as a protest-singing punk. When she ascended to the top of the pop charts, she was trapped." nytimes.com/2021/05/18/art…
Sinéad says her mom abused her as a child:

"O’Connor was 18 when her mother died & on that day, she took down the one photo on her mom’s bedroom wall: the image of the pope. O’Connor carefully saved the photo, waiting for the right moment to destroy it."nytimes.com/2021/05/18/art…
So much in here about misogyny in the music industry:

"When Sinéad O’Connor became pregnant in the midst of recording, she writes that the executive called a doctor and tried to coerce her into having an abortion, which she refused." nytimes.com/2021/05/18/art…
Read 5 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
Speaking of the "sanctity of life," Mississippi has the WORST infant mortality rate in the US at 8.43 infant deaths per 1000 births (vs 5.8 nationally).

Broken down by race in Mississippi:

White Infant Mortality: 5.9
Black Infant Mortality: 11.6

But yup, sanctity of life.
Regarding "the sanctity of life," 2019 data suggests Mississippi would've saved 1,000+ lives from 2014-2021 WITHOUT A PANDEMIC if the state had expanded Medicaid for ~200k folks.

Gov. Reeves says he's against "Obamacare expansion" & offers no alternative.
Here's the study & data on how many lives Mississippi could've saved if Gov. Reeves and other leaders had accepted over $1 billion a year from the federal government to expand Medicaid (totally free in first few years; federal govt covers 90% later years). cbpp.org/research/healt…
Read 7 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
Today, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to Roe v. Wade.

In 2016, the media ignored Hillary Clinton as she emphasized the court's importance.

Others mocked her.

"Use scare tactics much? ... What's scarier? You in the Oval Office. WE will write in Sen. Sanders."
A lot of left-wing men who weren't fans of Hillary Clinton similarly responded to her tweets about the Supreme Court with derision.

Example: "what utter BS talk policies and stop fear mongering for votes. You should be ashamed!"
On March 30, 2016, Hillary Clinton gave a major speech in WISCONSIN about the Supreme Court.

Trump-obsessed media either ignored the speech or ignored the issue. Ex, this headline from a story on the speech:

"Clinton Says Republicans Have Only Themselves to Blame for Trump" THE NATION 2016 article: Hillary Clinton Just Delivered the For the most part, if the speech was covered, the headlines
Read 20 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
HUGE NEWS: The Supreme Court will hear Mississippi's challenge to the "most central principle of Roe v. Wade" in a case that has the potential to end abortion rights in states nationwide.

Trump's three Supreme Court appointments could prove decisive. 1/
mississippifreepress.org/12273/u-s-supr…
"Thanks to millions of voters in 2016, President Donald Trump appointed three new Supreme Court Justices."

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves celebrated this morning as the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Mississippi's challenge to the core of Roe v. Wade. 2/ mississippifreepress.org/12273/u-s-supr…
Gov. Reeves: “The sanctity of life. The future of our children. Mississippi is at the forefront of protecting both. And that is what is at stake in the case we have been praying the U.S. Supreme Court would decide to hear." 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12273/u-s-supr…
Read 8 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
I see a lot of people blaming the state of democracy in Mississippi on Republicans. I get it; GOP lawmakers nationwide have been seriously rolling back voting rights.

But Mississippi's democracy has always been limited ever since the reign of segregationist Dixiecrats.
Mississippi didn't create any laws rolling back voting rights this year. We already have the most limited voting access in the country (no early voting, no mail voting, minimal absentee options, no online registration).
Lawmakers in Georgia engaged in Jim Crow tactics with their rollback on voting rights—there's no doubt. But you couldn't have done those same rollbacks on voting rights in MS—because we don't have them to begin with.

Even now, GA's current voting laws would be a huge step in MS.
Read 5 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
16 May
READ THIS THREAD: On Tuesday, cancer patient Jonathan helped launch a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative: "(Many) days I feel pretty helpless. Today I feel pretty good—we have a chance..."

On Friday, the MS Supreme Court killed ALL ballot initiatives. 1/mississippifreepress.org/12117/medicaid…
“I have just learned I have another surgery coming up. Without insurance, I can’t afford any of this. At this point, I feel like I shouldn’t be worried about battling the treatment; I should be battling the cancer,” Jonathan said Tuesday. 2/
mississippifreepress.org/12117/medicaid…
Jonathan's hope: With a ballot initiative, MS would be able to bypass lawmakers & expand Medicaid to 200,000 working Mississippians who can't afford health care. @YesOn76MS began collecting signatures Tuesday.

On Friday, the court killed those plans. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12117/medicaid…
Read 78 tweets

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