Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves told Newsmax on Thursday that he believes ''the American people are on our side'' in terms of upholding Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban and overturning Roe v. Wade.
''If the Mississippi law is upheld ... then obviously Mississippi moves in the right direction. But I will tell you, even so, there will still be 39 out of 42 countries in Europe that have more restrictions on abortion than Mississippi did. If, in fact, the court just simply upholds our law,'' Reeves explained on ''Spicer & Co.''
''That's the reason we went further and asked for Roe v. Wade to be overturned. But we believe that the American people are not for abortion on demand. We think, clearly, a vast majority of Americans do not want abortions allowed in the third trimester.''
Reeves' comments follow liberal backlash after a draft majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked to Politico on May 2. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case opinion would overturn Roe's nearly 50-year precedent and send regulations on the procedure back to states.
The Mississippi governor explained that if Roe were overturned, his state has a trigger law that would ban abortion except in cases of rape and life-threatening situations for the mother.
''There's no doubt that there are instances, there are individuals, that certainly push for exceptions and that's OK,'' Reeves said. ''What we're trying to do in Mississippi is illustrate the fact that there have been 63 million American babies that have been aborted since Roe v. Wade was enacted.''
Reeves also said the state has ''no intention of banning contraceptives,'' arguing that ''the next phase of the pro-life movement'' is to make sure expecting mothers ''have the resources they need.''
''Also, the next phase of the pro-life movement ... is going to be focusing on trying to find ways ... to make it easier in Mississippi for adoptions, for foster care.''
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