The display in front of Central Baptist Church in Hattiesburg turns the head of many a motorist traveling on U.S. 49.

A mock-up of a popular Mississippi vanity tag, an oversized billboard features a childlike caricature of a little boy and girl and reads "Choose Life - Your Mother Did." The "registration stickers" refer to the date that the U.S. Supreme Court made abortion legal through its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Mississippi is more than ready for an abortion ban, said Central Baptist's the Rev. Raymond Joslyn. And it may soon get it.

"Every bit of us was designed by God," Joslyn said. By tolerating abortion in Mississippi, however limited access to the procedure might be, "we are in violation of what God has already designed."

That sentiment unites much of a state whose opposition to abortion is largely a product of deeply held religious beliefs. If public opinion were law, Mississippi would have probably outlawed abortion long ago.

But a ban will likely become reality if the state Senate passes a bill prohibiting the procedure except when the mother's life is endangered or in cases of rape or incest.

Senate approval is all but assured, and Gov. Haley Barbour has indicated he will sign the legislation that has already propelled Mississippi into the center of the national abortion debate.

Restrictive laws

State Sen. Ed Morgan, R-Hattiesburg, said he's not comfortable commenting on the bill until he has read it. But Morgan said he's pro-life, and believes that most of his constituents back a statewide abortion ban.

"Mississippi historically has been a conservative state," Morgan said. "I think that when you look at a number of states that have made important decisions about abortion, Mississippi is no different."

State Sen. Tom King, R-Petal, likewise thinks the bill has popular support. King opposes abortion except when the mother's life is endangered or in cases of rape or incest.

"I am for the bill," he said. "I know how I feel about abortion, and I think the majority of my constituents feel the same way I do."

Mississippi already has some of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws on its books. One clinic in the state, the Jackson Women's Health Organization, provides abortions - and that's only after a mandatory waiting period, counseling and both parents' consent for those under 18.

And the 2004 Rights of Conscience Act allows health service providers to refuse to participate in any health care practice to which they object on cultural or religious grounds.

With the proposed ban, Mississippi would join South Dakota and eight other states in crafting laws that could prompt a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the recently overhauled U.S. Supreme Court.

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds on Monday signed a bill banning abortion except when the mother's life is at risk. In a prepared statement, Rounds said he expected the bill to be tied up in court for years and that it would not take effect until the high court upholds it.

Even though South Dakota's ban received a gubernatorial signature first, Mississippi's bill could still be the Supreme Court's test case if it becomes law, said Carol West, a professor at the Mississippi College School of Law.

"Some group would have to decide to challenge the constitutionality of the law based on the rules set out in Roe v. Wade," said West, one of whose specialties is women and the law. "It's sort of a matter of who gets to the courthouse first."

The nation is still unsure how conservative Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito will impact the Supreme Court's judicial and ideological disposition. With the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a critical swing vote in key decisions on a raft of polarizing issues including abortion, the question of the hour is whether Roe v. Wade could now be overturned, West said.

"It's the unknown at this point," she said.

Polarizing issue

Few issues divide the public as sharply as abortion.

According to the New York-based nonpartisan opinion research group Public Agenda, 47 percent of Americans are pro-choice and 46 percent are pro-life, but 53 percent believe abortion is morally wrong.

Those numbers have remained virtually unchanged since 1975, suggesting that the fierce debate that has been roiling for more than three decades has done little to change minds on either side of the issue. And most Americans say abortion is a low legislative priority and does not dictate their vote for president.

Nevertheless, interest groups at both ends of the spectrum have ensured the issue remains a priority in the public's consciousness.

Terri Herring, president of Jackson-based Pro-Life Mississippi, has spent the last 20 years working to promote pro-life legislation. Since the abortion ban bill was introduced, her telephone has been ringing incessantly with calls from reporters from Newsweek, BBC Radio, U.S. News & World Report and even Rolling Stone.

Whether the Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade is irrelevant, she said.

"Realistically, if you look at current circumstances, we do not have the votes on the court to overturn Roe," she said.

"But idealistically ... I don't think we can stand in the way of allowing the people of Mississippi to let their voice be heard."

The Supreme Court could choose not to hear a challenge to the abortion precedent at all, said Kate Greene, a political science professor specializing in women's issues at the University of Southern Mississippi.

"The Supreme Court doesn't have to take a case if they're not ready to decide," she said.

Heart of the matter

The crux of the abortion issue is not just the temperament of the Supreme Court, but also the potent emotion involved in the debate.

Larry Rodick, president of Planned Parenthood of Alabama which oversees Mississippi's only office in Hattiesburg, said in a prepared statement that the organization is committed to defending the rights of its patients despite ramped-up efforts to criminalize abortion.

"Contraception and medically accurate sex education are proven tools to prevent unintended pregnancy," Rodick said in the release. "Abortion bans are not."

Women seem to get lost in the debate over their pregnancies, Greene said.

"This is about a woman's right to have autonomy under the law to do with her life what she needs or wants to do," she said.

"There are no instances in which men are told what they have to do, that will affect their lives in the way that this will affect women."

But Herring condemned what she called abortion's use as a modern-era form of birth control.

"Once you are moved with compassion and you understand what abortion does to an unborn child, that never goes away," she said.

Central Baptist Church's display is meant to remind passersby that in the eyes of the faithful, God's creations are under attack.

"Life is life ... and who knows what each unborn life could be?" Joslyn said.

Originally published March 11, 2006