Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch told the Columbus Rotary Club Tuesday afternoon that her office is about “freedom.”
Mississippians should be free from federal laws governing access to abortion and from mandates forcing COVID-19 vaccination on workers, she argued.
Freedom from unseemly federal demands are evidence of the “rule of law,” according to Fitch.
Fitch described Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Clinic as “one of the biggest cases that has happened in my lifetime.” The case, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, revolves around a state law that bans abortion after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. Lower courts had ruled against the enforcement of the law on the basis that it violated existing precedent allowing a woman to have an abortion within the first 24 weeks.
“This is a rule of law question,” she said, “meaning that the state should decide and be able to make a decision about certain theories or rules of law, and this is one.”
Fitch said she thinks states should take a “holistic approach to this issue.”
“Fifty years ago things were different, and those laws have been frozen since 1973,” she said. “The workforce has changed for women. We have paternity and maternity leave now, and we had none of that 50 years ago. We talked about … the opportunity to lift up women, and there was not an either/or choice they had to make at this point in life.”
By “rule of law,” she explained, she meant the system works best when states, through the officials elected by the people, are allowed to make decisions for their own constituents, rather than policy coming down through federal mandates.
“You elect your legislators,” she said. “Your legislators carry out your policies. That’s how the rule of law works. …That’s your decision, and if you don’t like it, you can change it by voting them out of office. It’s your process. … We discussed those rule of law issues and why it should be returned to the states.”
At the Supreme Court, the other side didn’t argue with “substance,” she said.
“They basically just said fear,” she said. “You can’t change this, the world will stop if you do that. … They didn’t talk about empowering women, didn’t talk about protecting lives or the sanctity of these babies.”
She said the state essentially asked the court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“It’s a big lift, but we’re ready,” she said. “(Republican attorney generals) are all ready to take that on in the states as a rule of law.”
Fitch said she is also fighting federal overreach in the form of mandates for workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“This administration has been overreaching into all of our lives ever since they took office,” she said. “One of the things that’s been very important for (Republican AGs) is grasping this vaccination mandate. … The issue is how do we represent you all and provide freedoms to each of you.”
Republican efforts to block vaccination mandates for health care workers were unsuccessful, a result she described as “heartbreaking.”
“As we all know, our health care heroes have been there for us day in and day out,” she said. “Unfortunately the United States Supreme Court did not agree with us, so it affected 17 million health care workers across our country. The fight’s not over, and we’re going to continue because we want to protect our health care workers.”
Efforts to block requirements for businesses with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated were successful, she said.
“We fought and won that battle at the Supreme Court, and we were grateful for that,” Fitch said. “In Mississippi we’ve continued to fight the battle (against COVID-19 vaccination requirements) for federal contractors. We joined with some other Republican AGs, and that requirement has been stayed in our state.”
Requirements for Head Start workers and children two and over to wear masks have also been stayed in Mississippi thanks to the efforts of the AG’s office, she said.
“We are all good in that regard,” she said. “And we are going to keep fighting.”
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