JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – WJTV 12 News sat down with the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, Greta Kemp Martin.

The attorney discussed the issues facing the state, including abortion policy in a post-Dobbs Mississippi. Martin was asked what she believed should be the role of an attorney general when it comes to abortion in the state.

“So I’ll say this. Whether it be attorney general, governor, the government has no place in people’s health care decision making. Period. And that could be about abortion, that could be about vaccines, that could be about birth control. That is just government overreach at its finest. So, you know, with the Dobbs case, what I think people tend to overlook is that it’s not just about abortion. It can bleed into many different health care decisions. And the last thing we want to do in a state like Mississippi, where health care is such a concern, we do not want to set up a situation where physicians feel like they have to call their lawyers before they provide care to their patients. When you have Greta Martin as your attorney general, physicians are not going to have to worry about being criminalized. Women are not going to worry about being criminalized. And as my opponent has indicated, her intent to track medical records across state lines, that’s not a priority for me and my administration,” she said.

To ensure Mississippi’s moms and babies can live healthy lives, Martin hopes to do all she can to improve the state’s healthcare system.

“Day one, we have to address our failing healthcare system. I’m very supportive of the expansion of Medicaid, and I would position my office to be as supportive of that movement as possible, because overall, we’re seeing rural hospitals close. We’re seeing doctors flee this state. We have to address the problem from from the bottom, and that is reconstructing and building up a stronger health care system in Mississippi,” she said.

Incumbent Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R-Miss.) recently launched the “MAMA” initiative.

The Mississippi Access to Maternal Assistance (MAMA) program is an online database that points expecting mothers to shelter, food and financial and healthcare resources in the state.

Martin said the program comes up short in providing for the state’s mothers and babies.

“As General Fitch said herself repeatedly, these are not new resources. These are resources that have been available to Mississippians for quite some time. And they’re wonderful. Right? For the most part, they’re they’re overworked, underfunded resources that have been providing support to mothers and families for quite some time. Just the fact that you compiled them in one place on the Internet does not mean that you have solved the problems that we have in this state,” Martin said. “Right now, there’s no services that are outlined in this database for the Delta, which is one of the areas of the state that has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates. This doesn’t seem to be something that the attorney general should be focused on. This seems like a database that might have been more appropriate coming from the Department of Human Services. It’s a great tool, and I commend General Fitch for for pulling that together, but I can’t see how that is going to help us reduce these mortality rates when we have work here in Mississippi that needs to be done.” 

The General Election will be held on November 7, 2023.