Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEW: Overturning Roe v. Wade will "empower" women to pursue careers and raise children, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch says. She says times have changed.

But there are a lot of reasons to think that's... not exactly true. So here's a thread. 1/
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AG Fitch's claim about ending Roe v. Wade: “Think about...the babies that will be saved, the mothers that will get the chance to really redirect their lives. You have the option to achieve your dream goals and have those beautiful children as well.” 2/
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Fitch claims changes since 1973 make Roe and abortion no longer necessary for women. She cites laws "addressing pregnancy discrimination, requiring leave time, (and) assisting with child care" as allowing women to pursue careers and "rich family lives." 3/
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AG Fitch claims times have changed enough since 1973 to make it feasible for all women to work and raise children.

But even she admitted in 2017 that Mississippi was on the verge of being the only state with no law guaranteeing equal pay for women. 4/
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Fitch on an equal pay law in 2017: “I’d really like for us to beat Alabama on this one."

But Mississippi did not beat Alabama on that one. Two years later, Alabama passed an equal pay law. Mississippi still has not, despite some lawmakers' efforts. 5/
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“Mississippi’s celebration of parental leave policies is particularly bizarre, as the United States is one of only two countries without a national paid maternity leave policy,” 154 economists wrote in a Supreme Court brief rebuffing AG Lynn Fitch. 6/ mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines ‘affordable childcare’ as less than 7% of family income, but there is only one state in the country, Louisiana, where daycare costs qualify as ‘affordable’ under that rubric." 7/ mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

On Sept. 20, Mississippi Today reported that “thousands of Mississippi parents” lost child care benefits in recent months amid the COVID-19 pandemic “even while the state hoards over half-a-billion in unspent federal child care dollars.” 8/
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The economists also took aim at Fitch’s claim that the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 has increased pregnant women’s opportunities, noting research shows it has "actually reduced women's wages and employment overall." 9/
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About 75% of women seeking abortions are “low income”; 59% already have children; and 55% “report a recent disruptive life event." Those women, the economists note, “overwhelmingly lack access to paid maternity leave or to affordable childcare.” 10/
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In one study, women who were denied abortions due to gestational age limits experienced a 78% increase in past-due debt and 81% increase in bankruptcies, evictions and court judgements over the next 5 years compared to women who obtained abortions. 11/ mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

“The financial effects of being denied an abortion are thus as large or larger than those of being evicted, losing health insurance, being hospitalized, or being exposed to flooding due to a hurricane.” 12/ mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

Mississippi has the highest rate of residents without health insurance in the nation, the highest poverty rate, the highest infant mortality rate, the highest pre-term birth rate, and a maternal mortality rate higher than most of the nation. 13/ mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

Mississippi is a national leader in stillbirth rates alongside other southern states like Alabama and Georgia.

Since 2020, stillbirths have doubled among unvaccinated pregnant women in Mississippi who contract COVID-19 illness, 15 of whom have died. 14/
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About 14.5% of babies in Mississippi are born premature—nearly double the national rate of 9.3%.

Mississippi leads the nation in low-birth-weight births, with 11.8% of babies born weighing less than 5.5 pounds. The national average? 8.3%. 15/mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

In some parts of Mississippi, the situation is even more dire for pregnant people.

In the the Delta's Issaquena County, which is majority Black, 24.4% of babies are born weighing less than 5.5 pounds—triple the national average. 16/
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WLBT interviewed a woman in Issaquena County who said she “had to drive more than an hour to the nearest hospital while having contractions.”

Issaquena has no hospitals and, like half of the state’s counties, does not have any OBG-YNs. 17/wlbt.com/2021/03/11/mis…

Attorney General Fitch last year urged SCOTUS to kill the ACA and with it, Medicaid expansion, which could help keep rural hospitals open.

Expansion, a State Department of Health expert told me in 2019, could also improve outcomes for pregnant women. 18/
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In Mississippi, about 25,000 pregnant people use Medicaid to cover pregnancy, but lose health benefits just 60 days after birth—making it harder for low-wage working moms to care for children at home while making an income. 19/
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Earlier this year, the Mississippi Legislature considered extending Medicaid benefits for new mothers from 60 days to 12 months postpartum, but lawmakers killed the idea in the last days of the 2021 session, @NickJudin & @e_hensley reported. 20/
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Attorney General Lynn Fitch: “Just think about the uplifting, the changing of course for women that have for these new babies. ... You can have these beautiful children and have your careers. And so this really gets into, how do we empower women?" 21/
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Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch says she sees divine providence at work in the Dobbs case.

“It is truly exciting. It is a case chosen by God. We get the opportunity to make this argument (that) Roe v. Wade ... should be overturned." 22/ mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

Abortion, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said, should be a "state's rights" issue—a concept elected officials have often invoked throughout Mississippi’s history, including in defense of slavery, segregation and same-sex marriage bans. 23/ mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

A state's elected officials should pass abortion laws that reflect the will of voters, AG Fitch said.

A day earlier, Fitch's office told a federal court to uphold an 1890 Jim Crow law that still bars thousands of Black Mississippians from voting. 24/mississippifreepress.org/16319/overturn…

At the Mississippi Free Press, we believe the news should be contextual and meaningful for readers—not just soundbites and he-said/she-saids.

You can help us produce more journalism by following @MSFreePress and giving a one-time or recurring donation at mfp.ms/donate.

P.S.: h/t to @jallen1985 for pointing this interview out to us.

https://twitter.com/jallen1985/status/1442307042027388930

I erred in using "nearly double the national rate" here. Double would be 18.6%.

To put a fine point on it, AG Lynn Fitch treats it as a chance for women to both pursue careers/dreams AND raise babies.

But for many low-wage women in Mississippi and nationwide, it's not about "careers" or "dreams"—it's about being able to work to make enough just to survive.

https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1442654799380496384

Here is a thread and story in a similar vein but on a different topic:

https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1388614043091492876