‘Guilty Of Murder’ : Mississippi Bill Would Make It A Felony To ‘Cause An Abortion’

Abortion would be classified as murder under a new Mississippi bill introduced into the state’s legislature.

Republican Mississippi state Rep. Dan Eubanks’s bill would make it a felony for anyone who “willfully” cause an abortion.

“Any person who performs or induces any abortion shall be guilty of murder,” the representative’s legislation reads.

The legislation also proposes that “it shall be unlawful for any physician to perform an abortion or to perform an abortion that results in the delivery of a living child and to intentionally allow or cause the child to die” — language referencing situations in which a baby is delivered alive through a failed abortion and doctors choose not to administer care.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was criticized when he described such an instance, saying, “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

The bill also proposes increasing penalties for anyone who “advertises for medicine or tools that can be used in an unlawful abortion” as well as prohibits public funds from being used for abortion facilities.

Eubanks did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

His legislation is not the first radically pro-life measure that Mississippi has passed: Republican Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill banning abortions after 15 weeks in 2018.

A federal appeals court would rule that this ban was unconstitutional.

Thank you to Mississippi lawmakers and Gov. Phil Bryant for passing the earliest abortion ban in the nation! This is a great step towards ensuring that every human life — born and preborn — is welcomed and protected. https://t.co/rfTHil4PBQ

— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) March 20, 2018

Women who wish to obtain abortions in Mississippi must first receive state-directed in-person counseling, wait 24 hours, and obtain an ultrasound of the unborn baby, according to the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute. The doctor must offer the patient the option to see the ultrasound.

A minor’s parents must consent before she obtains an abortion, and the state does not allow abortion drugs to be administered through telemedicine, according to Guttmacher.

Abortions may be performed after 18 weeks only if the mother’s life is in danger or in case of “lethal fetal anomaly,” Guttmacher noted, and abortions performed based on race, sex selection, or genetic anomaly are prohibited.