Mississippi Code 1966: First State to Allow Abortion
The state of Mississippi was the first of 19 states prior to Roe v. Wade to decriminalize the killing of some unborn children. Mississippi actually began America's child holocaust with their policy of permitting abortion for rape in 1966.1 2 The text of their House Bill 563 appears below.
Those who have supported the immoral child-killing policy of an abortion "exception" for rape and incest have unwittingly:
- embolded the rapist,
- helped him escape being caught and have
- tempted him to repeat his crime.
Abortion for rape is not compassionate but cruel because it kills the baby, entices the woman who was an innocent victim to now herself commit a horrific crime, and therefore either immediately or eventually increases the suffering that this woman will endure.
As a figure of speech, this "exception" euphemism is meant to confuse by distracting us from the fundamental reality of the baby's life. So by avoiding that confusion, we more readily realize that it is never a hard decision to protect a baby.
Sometimes the crime of rape results in the conception of a child. Yet of course it is wrong to kill a baby for the crime of his father.
More commonly, a rape does not result in the fertilization of an ovum. The crime of rape results in a lower than average fertilization rate because of the design of a woman's reproductive system. Once the sperm enters the womb, the woman's own body plays an important role in bringing about conception, for the uterus contracts to help propel the sperm to the fallopian tubes. The physiological trauma from rape hinders this process and lowers the likelihood of pregnancy. However, regardless of the circumstances of a child's conception, she should be loved.
An "exception" is a euphemism for a child intentionally killed. Far from the rape exception being a concession toward ending abortion, that deadly concept actually began America's holocaust by undermining the public's ability to think clearly about child killing and by crumbling the moral foundation of law.
Abortion for Incest: Abortion for incest is cruel. Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics cover up the crime of incest, and typically send the victim back home to her rapist. Even worse, they often send her home with her rapist, the same criminal who brought her to the clinic.
- emboldens a criminal to rape his young relative;
- helps him escape being caught;
- tempts him to repeat his crime; and,
- is not compassionate because it kills a baby and increases the woman's suffering.
A real life case: Kristi Hofferber, pictured at right, wrote of her own father/grandfather, "The incest was published in 1991 when my biological mother prosecuted her father, for not only the one pregnancy resulting in my birth and adoption, but also for six other pregnancies resulting in five abortions, and one forced miscarry by her father."
Abortion for Rape: Personhood for the unborn helps people understand there are no hard cases when deciding to protect a baby. You don't kill a baby because her father is a criminal. Similar tragedies result from non-incestuous rape. Clinics nationwide refuse to comply with mandatory reporting laws for suspected child rape. In Sherri's state, Colorado pro-lifers brought audio-taped evidence of that failure to Colorado's attorney general's office, and Republican John Suthers chooses to look the other way.
By tragically promoting politicians who advocate killing a child whose father is a criminal, the pro-life industry undermines the public's understanding of the unalienable God-given right to life of the innocent. The lie of abortion being justifiable for rape is what unleashed the slaughter of the innocents in the first place, as in Mississippi in 1966 and Colorado and California in 1967. Christians will never end "legalized" abortion as they tolerate and even defend laws that further entrench the very foundation of the abortionist argument. So.... Do something good with your vote: Personhood!
Personhood will reduce crimes against women and children. Such powerful arguments notwithstanding, Bethany IS the strongest argument!
See also:
- The Bible and Abortion: on Rape
- Colorado RTL's Amendment 62 Talking Points
- Rebecca Kiessling's story and Rebecca's stunning list of others conceived in rape, and women pregnant by rape. And see Rebecca at Colorado RTL's 2010 March for Life:
And while some think that those who defend "exceptions" are referring to "small numbers," see for example the Exceptions Calculator's count of the millions of children killed by the exceptions policies of John McCain.
"The law condemns and punishes only actions within certain definite and narrow limits; it thereby justifies, in a way, all similar actions that lie outside those limits."
- Leo Tolstoy widely attributed
PS: Sherri Williams, after being raped, was pushed to have an abortion. Sherri refused and gave birth to a beautiful girl later adopted and named Bethany. Christians make powerful arguments against killing a child conceived in rape, but there is no stronger human argument than Bethany herself. She IS the argument! Click the play arrow to listen, and you will be STUNNED!
Audio file
Also, ARTL is attempting to get a copy of this powerful YouTube video from a 2011 Mississippi Personhood Campaign Press Conference. Please pray that we'll be able to promote this vitally important message. (YouTube reports that the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBojovBw1-M is no longer available.)
Text of Mississippi's 1966 House Bill No. 562 (that decriminalized the killing of some children)
House Bill No. 562
AN ACT to amend section 2223, Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, to allow exemption from crime of abortion where pregnancy was caused by rape.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi:
Secion 1. Section 2223, Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, is amended to read as follows:2223. 1. Any person wilfully and knowingly causing, by means of any instrument, medicine, drug or other means whatever, any woman pregnant with child to abort or miscarry, or attempts to procure or produce an abortion or miscarriage shall be guilty of a felony unless the same were done by a duly licensed, practicing physician:
(a) where necessary for the preservation of the mother's life;
(b) where pregnancy was caused by rape.
Said person shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary not less than one (1) year nor more than ten (10) years; provided, however, if the death of the mother results therefrom, the person procuring, causing or attempting to procure or cause the illegal abortion or miscarriage shall be guilty of murder.
2. No act prohibited in paragraph 1 hereof shall be considered exempt under the provisions of subparagraph (a) thereof unless performed upon the prior advice, in writing, of two (2) reputable licensed physicians.
3. The license of any physician or nurse shall be automatically revoked upon conviction under the provisions of this act.
Section 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.Approved: May 8, 1966
- 1The State of Mississippi, 1966 Mississippi Code, page 661
- 2Nat'l RTL: Abortion Timeline