Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves said he had some “optimism” that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, adding that he would “do everything I can to protect the lives of unborn children.”
Reeves was interviewed on CNN where he discussed the oral arguments made before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which is a challenge to a pro-life Mississippi statute which prohibits the abortion of an unborn child after 15 weeks.
“If you believe, as I believe very strongly, that innocent unborn child in the mother’s womb is, in fact, a child, the most important word when we talk about unborn children is not unborn, but it’s children,” the governor said. “And so, yes, I will do everything I can to protect the lives of those children.”
The Supreme Court could possibly overturn Roe in this case, which would allow Mississippi’s law to stay implemented. Reeves noted that he had “some reason for optimism” that the 1973 abortion ruling would be overturned. Nearly 60 million unborn babies have been aborted since that case.
“They could consider potentially overturning Casey, which was the Planned Parenthood vs. Casey case, dating back to 1992, or they could overturn Roe v. Wade in 1973,” Reeves said, “And the commentary around the oral arguments on Wednesday certainly give people like me who hope that they do both of those things some reason for optimism.”
He also argued that the Constitution did not provide for a right to abortion.
“If you read the Constitution, in my opinion, there is no guaranteed right to an abortion in our U.S. Constitution. And, furthermore, not only is there not a guaranteed right, there’s also nothing in the Constitution that prohibits individual states from enacting their own laws,” Reeves said.
He continued, “[Since] Roe was enacted in 1973, there have been 62 million American babies that have been killed through this process. And I think that those babies in their mother’s womb don’t have the ability to stand up for themselves. And that’s why they have to have people like me and others around this nation that, for years, have tried to stand up for unborn children.”
Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban was signed back in 2018 by then-Governor Phil Bryant. The law was subsequently struck down by a federal judge before the Supreme Court decided to hear the case.
At the time the high court decided to examine the case, Reeves said that he hoped Mississippi’s law would be used to overturn Roe.
“The question is not are you going to overturn Roe v. Wade, the question is, the science has changed and therefore it makes sense for the court to review their decisions from the past and this is a vehicle in which for them to do it,” he said at the time.
After oral arguments last week, many pro-life advocates were optimistic about the possibility of Roe being overturned.
“In short, I’m hopeful that it will be overturned,” Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser told The Daily Wire. “I think it’s a realistic hope that it will be overturned.”