Mississippi introduces bill to require proper handling of aborted babies

In an effort to make the selling of aborted babies’ organs and body parts for “scientific experimentation” illegal in the state of Mississippi, state lawmakers have introduced the Mississippi Unborn Infants Dignity Act. The bill is reportedly similar to model legislation from Americans United for Life.

The Jackson Free Press describes the bill:

Senate Bill 2115 would require funeral directors or the person who assumes responsibility of the body to file a fetal death certificate with the Registrar of Vital Statistics in the state health department. If medical providers responsible for the final disposition of the bodies do not cremate or bury the remains, they can be prosecuted and imprisoned for a year or more or pay a fine of $10,000. The bill states that “nothing in this act shall be construed to affect existing federal or state law regarding abortion.” However, medical providers who do not implement the practices set out in the bill for giving “proper burials” will be subject to losing their licenses.

Diane Derzis, owner of the sole abortion clinic in the state – the Jackson Women’s Health Organization – reacted to the bill by claiming that with the number of miscarriages happening at home, the bill would be unenforceable, also stating that “people should be outraged” at the “wasting” of taxpayer money on such an idea. “What about the women and children and men in Mississippi that need attention—instead of wasting money on this kind of stuff?” Derzis remarked.

An abortion provider like Derzis – whose clinic has been cited for numerous health violations already – could certainly be affected by the law, if passed. According to Michigan abortion facility owner Renee Chelian, abortion facilities have difficulties finding ways to dispose of the large number of aborted children’s bodies, and even joked that she had considered giving mothers the bodies of their aborted children in gift bags to take home.

Tanya Britton of Pro-Life Mississippi sees the value in a bill requiring that aborted children must be treated like other deceased infants, telling the Jackson Free Press, “If you are going to afford the dignity of a human person to the child who dies following a miscarriage or who is stillborn, what is the difference between those children and those children who are aborted? There is no difference.”