Mississippi bans sex-selective, race-selective, disability-selective abortion

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Mississippi has a new law, according to which it is illegal to perform an abortion on the sole grounds of the baby’s race, sex, or disability, the Washington Free Beacon reports. Gov. Tate Reeves (R., Miss.) signed the Life Equality Act (LEA) into law on Wednesday.

With concurrence from the statehouse, the law was passed by Mississippi’s state senate in a 33-11 vote. The LEA makes it a felony to perform a sex-selective, race-selective, or disability-selective abortion.

The law describes abortion as “an act rife with the potential for eugenic manipulation.” Therefore, the law says: “The State of Mississippi maintains a “compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics.” Moreover, the law notes: “Sex-selection abortions are used to prevent the birth of a human being of the undesired sex. Its victims are overwhelming [sic] female.”

According to the legislation, doctors carrying out an abortion must confirm they are not doing so on any of the listed grounds. Physicians acting in violation of the law can be punished with 10 years in prison and suspension of their license to practice medicine in Mississippi. The law requires physicians to confirm in a report that any abortion they performed was not done on the grounds of a category listed.

The law explains that: “Each of the immutable characteristics protected by this law can be known relatively early in a pregnancy, and this law prevents them from becoming the sole criterion for deciding whether the child will live or die.”

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