In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Reeves told Fox News host Mike Emmanuel that he plans to enforce the state’s trigger law despite a new lawsuit from the state’s only abortion clinic.
"The fact of the matter is this entire court battle was never about winning a court case. It was always about creating a culture of life," Reeves said, explaining the need to develop more support for expectant mother and babies. "That’s exactly what we’re doing here in Mississippi, and that’s what we as pro-life Mississippians and pro-life Americans have to continue to do. We have to prove that being pro-life is not simply about being anti-abortion. And in our state, we’re enacting policies to do exactly that."
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Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has already launched measures to back the state’s trigger law, which could go into effect after 10 days. However, a legal challenge from Jackson Women's Health Organization cites a state Supreme Court ruling from 1998 claiming that the state constitution’s privacy guarantees include an indicated right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.
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"Jackson Women's Health Organization, which is the exact same organization that we were opposite in the Supreme Court case, then filed suit in state court," Reeves said. "We are dealing with that, the chief justice of the Supreme Court has appointed a special judge to hear that case because the four chancellors in Hinds County, which is the court of jurisdiction recused themselves, and so we are expecting a hearing sometime early this week on that particular case but yes, I do expect for the state's law to be upheld in the state court and I do expect our trigger law to go into effect."
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The governor said doctors could lose their licenses to practice in Mississippi if they’re discovered to be giving telemedicine abortion pills, but he confirmed that he had no reason to believe surveillance will be conducted on mail or phone calls of pregnant women.
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"In our state, the enforcement is done by the State Board of Medical Licensure. We have a State Board of Medical Licensure here which actually oversees the practice of medicine in our state. And they ensure that any physician that is practicing, whether it's through telemedicine or otherwise, that any physician that practices in our state is practicing not only based upon the standards of care that we require in our state, but also based upon state law," Reeves explained. "And so, if a physician is attempting to practice medicine in the state of Mississippi, and they're violating our law, then our State Board of Medical Licensure will pull their license from them."