MS abortion ban forces 13-year-old rape victim to deliver a baby - Publication Date |
- Aug 17, 2023
- Episode Duration |
- 00:24:31
On this edition of Your Call, we' discuss a TIME Magazine feature about Ashley, a 13 year-old soon to be 7th grader from the Clarksdale, Mississippi, who was forced to deliver a baby after she could not access an abortion under the state's extreme ban on the procedure. Ashley was raped by a stranger in her front yard, and waited months to tell her mother Regina what happened.
Mississippi has the second highest maternal-mortality rate in the country, with 43 deaths per 100,000 live births; Black women are 4 times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications as white women in the state, according to the Mississippi Department of Health.
Abortion is banned or restricted in 17 Republican controlled states. A total of 24 states are expected to ban or heavily restrict access to abortion soon, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Most of these abortion bans include exceptions, but few are granted in practice. A New York Times analysis found that Mississippi has reported no more than two exceptions have been granted.