(USDA/Creative Commons)

The bill has been highly publicized around the nation and will now be implemented starting July 1.

The desensitized bill does not grant exceptions for rape or incest. It does, however, grant exceptions for mothers in dire medical situations or in situations where the fetus may not survive. Furthermore, the bill requires physicians to determine the gestational age prior to the procedure. Failure to comply with this could result in the revocation of a physician’s medical license.

Pro-choice advocates across the state and nation have protested the bill, because they believe it is dangerous to women’s health and unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood has raised concerns that the bill, since it is based on the woman’s last menstrual period, is actually an 18-week ban instead of a 20-week ban. The organization also feels that the bill was politically motivated, which overlooked many of the important medical factors.

Mississippi is not the only state that has become an abortion battleground. Idaho, Georgia, Arizona and North Dakota have all pushed for comparable or more severe legislation on abortion. These states, along with Mississippi, have shown no qualms about pushing their agenda as far as it can go and challenging the constitutionality of abortion as decided in Roe v. Wade over four decades ago.

Reach Executive Producer Miguel Arreola here.