A program that fosters access to pregnancy help resources for mothers in Mississippi reached its one-year anniversary recently.
The Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance, or MAMA, program was established in 2023 and is designed to “connect pregnant women and new mothers with resources available in Mississippi,” as described on its website.
It was established by the Office of the Mississippi Attorney General and mandates that “resources, services and information” be made available to pregnant women through the state’s Departments of Health, Mental Health, Human Services, Child Protection Services, Employment Security, Office of Workforce Development and Division of Medicaid.
“Our state is blessed with countless public, private and faith-based resources, but it can be challenging to navigate while also adjusting to a changing family,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a press release from her office that was shared with Pregnancy Help News. “MAMA is just one of the ways that Mississippi is helping to stand in the gap to both empower women and promote life.”
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Fitch added that she is “grateful for this opportunity to show women that they are not alone” and emphasized that her office “care[s] about their wellbeing and success and want[s] to help them and their family [sic] flourish.”
Over 15,000 visitors have come the website since it was launched and nearly 500 users have downloaded the mobile app since it went live, according to Fitch’s office.
The press statement also emphasized how MAMA provides material assistance to mothers and parents through various means, including free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, adoption resources, access to food, goods and safety resources and assistance in obtaining help with finances, employment and childcare.
SB 2781, a bill establishing the Mississippi Mama program, was first introduced in January 2023 and approved by the governor the following April. The law mandates that the Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) “develop, implement, and manage” a digital website and mobile app designed to “coordinate and promote information and services related to pregnancy, childbirth and care for dependent children for expectant mothers and new parents.”
The MAMA website was unveiled in October 2023 and the accompanying app was launched in January 2024, as previously reported by Pregnancy Help News.
Fitch’s office has added over 400 resources to the Service Directory for the MAMA Program and continues efforts to add additional resources. Public, private, and faith-based organizations are invited to be part of the MAMA Service Directory.
Mississippi’s role in Roe’s reversal
The Magnolia State is far from removed from the pro-life battlefield. At the center of the decision to overturn the nationally recognized Constitutional “right” to abortion since 1973 was a Mississippi state law called the Gestational Age Act. This law prohibits elective abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy and was challenged as unconstitutional by the Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In July 2021, Fitch filed an amicus brief in the case—taken up by the United States Supreme Court two months earlier—in which she argued that there is “nothing in constitutional text, structure, history, or tradition [that] supports a right to abortion.”
The attorney general doubled down on her efforts to overturn Roe the following October, when she filed an additional brief calling on the nation’s highest court to return the decision of legislating abortion to the states. With the help of Fitch, the 50-year-old Constitutional “right” to abortion was overturned via the Dobbs decision of June 2022.
AG Fitch’s ongoing support for pregnancy help
But Fitch has not stopped her efforts to promote a culture of life in a post-Roe America. MAMA is only one way in which the attorney general continues her support of pregnancy help across the country.
In March 2022, prior to the historic Dobbs decision, Fitch collaborated with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America to host a donation drive that supported mothers in need. A year later, the attorney general attended the National Celebrate Life Day rally in Washington, D.C. As reported by Pregnancy Help News at the time, Fitch praised God for the success of Roe’s reversal but called upon pro-lifers for continued work, saying, “It’s our time to act.”
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision was a wide-reaching donation drive spearheaded by Fitch and partnering with Heartbeat International. The drive was also supported by eight other attorneys general.
LifeNews Note: This originally appeared at Pregnancy Help News.
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