[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 201 (Thursday, November 18, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S8444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                         TRIBUTE TO LYNN FITCH

 Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Madam President, I rise to pay tribute to 
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch.
  My State has much to be proud of in Attorney General Fitch as the 
first Republican to hold this office in almost 150 years and as 
Mississippi's first female attorney general ever.
  Specifically today, I rise to honor her for her unwavering fight to 
defend Mississippi's pro-life laws. Attorney General Fitch is 
representing the State of Mississippi in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's 
Health Organization at the U.S. Supreme Court this term. This case is 
the most anticipated abortion case to reach the Court since Casey v. 
Planned Parenthood in 1992, nearly 30 years ago.
  In the Dobbs case, Attorney General Fitch is defending a challenge to 
Mississippi House bill 1510, the Gestational Age Act Enacted in 2018, 
this legislation bans most abortions after 15 weeks gestation. By 
consistently defending this law all the way up to the Supreme Court, 
Attorney General Fitch has set the stage for the Court to consider 
overturning Roe v. Wade and return the issue of abortion to the States.
  The Dobbs case presents the strongest challenge to Roe in our 
lifetime. It is encouraging that the Supreme Court, with its first 
conservative majority in many years, will hear arguments on the merits 
of this Mississippi law. I am so proud that our female Mississippi 
Attorney General will be in the courtroom to defend our law in this 
case.
  In arguing for the Court to reconsider Roe in the State's brief in 
the case, Attorney General Fitch said, ``There are those who would like 
to believe that Roe v. Wade settled the issue of abortion once and for 
all. But all it did was establish a special-rules regime for abortion 
jurisprudence that has left these cases out of step with other Court 
decisions and neutral principles of law applied by the Court. As a 
result, state legislatures, and the people they represent, have lacked 
clarity in passing laws to protect legitimate public interests, and 
artificial guideposts have stunted important public debate on how we, 
as a society, care for the dignity of women and their children.''
  I wholeheartedly agree. The unlimited-abortion regime created by the 
Roe decision was wrong when it was handed down, and it is wrong now. It 
is bad for the unborn, and it is bad for women. I hope the Supreme 
Court recognizes that when it hears oral arguments in the Dobbs case on 
December 1.
  I am confident Attorney General Fitch will make our State proud by 
steadfastly defending Mississippi's law to protect unborn. 
Mississippians are proud to have this champion for life representing 
our State in this landmark case. I am praying for General Fitch and for 
her staff as they prepare to continue the fight to defend life before 
the highest court in the land.

                          ____________________