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It’s been more than five years since Katie Studdard discovered that Mississippi law prevented her daughter, Elyse, from receiving social security inheritance benefits after Katie’s husband, Chris McDill died.
While the story of Katie and Elyse is not uncommon, it is one that is becoming more relevant with each passing year as in vitro fertilization continues to expand.
Elyse was conceived through in vitro fertilization six months after Chris’ death, a fulfillment of a dream Chris and Katie had embraced throughout their marriage.
It has also been almost five years since Dana McLean joined the Mississippi legislature as representative of House District 39. For McLean, that first year was a crash course in the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the lawmaking process, trying to thread the needle in the dark to change the law to allow Katie and Elyse to receive benefits they would be entitled to collect in 27 states, but not Mississippi.
Wednesday, their shared journey came to a successful conclusion when the Senate passed HB1542 by a 24-1 margin, the last of four affirmative votes it took to secure inheritance rights for posthumously-conceived children.
The bill now awaits the governor’s signature and will go into effect on July 1.
Studdard, who teaches art at Caledonia Middle School, was in a staff meeting when both Sen. Chuck Younger and McLean tweeted her the outcome of the vote.
“It was almost like it wasn’t real,” she said. “I had this look on my face. One of my coworkers saw me and said, ‘It didn’t pass, did it?’”
Call it a delayed reaction.
“It didn’t hit me until I was on the way home,” Studdard said. “I just started bawling and couldn’t stop. It was such a relief to know that after all these years, what needed to be made right was made right.”
Relief was McLean’s immediate reaction, too.
“It was a relief after all we had gone through, not just in this session, but the ups and downs every year, being hopeful it would make it through, then being disappointed in the end. It’s always going to be special to me because I know the family that this will help and the child will receive her benefits.”
Studdard said there were many people who helped her through the process. A family friend, Circuit Court Judge Jim Kitchens was the first person Studdard reached out to when her daughter’s benefit application was rejected. He in turn referred her to former District Attorney Forest Allgood, who helped her explore the Mississippi law on the subject as well as the laws in other states. Sen. Chuck Younger was her advocate on the Senate side, waiting on the sideline for three years before the bill ever made it to the Senate for consideration.
But through it all, in every step of the way, it was McLean who was Studdard’s irrepressible ally.
“We talked for hours and hours about this in the beginning,” Studdard said. “She was brand new. She got on it right away. I knew (the bill) wouldn’t pass that first year, but over the years, it was getting further and further. Dana wasn’t going to give up and that was an encouragement. I wasn’t going to give up, either.”
The biggest winner in this is a little girl who turns six in July.
Elyse attends Annunciation Catholic School, a private school that requires tuition. Katie not only works as an art teacher but as a professional photographer.
“We are a Catholic family and it was a dream that Elyse would get a catholic school education,” Studdard said. “I’ve worked my tail off for her to go to school where she does. Now, I won’t have to worry about that as much. She’ll also be set up for a college education and be able to go where she wants to go to follow her dreams. It’s going to mean a lot for her, but it also means a lot for other children who are in her situation.”
McLean can appreciate how much that means.
This weekend, McLean’s daughter graduates from Law School at Ole Miss. McLean will be there for graduation, then it’s off to the beach for a well-earned vacation after a tedious four-month legislative session.
“I’m ready for that,” McLean said. “I need it.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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