Mississippi governor twice refused to rule out banning contraception if Roe v. Wade is overturned

• Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Sunday refused to rule out banning contraceptives if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
• He twice dodged questions during appearances on CNN's "State of the Union" and NBC's "Meet the Press."

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves twice refused to rule of the possibility of banning some forms of contraception if Roe v. Wade is overturned during Sunday TV appearances.

It comes after Politico published a leaked draft opinion by the Supreme Court, which showed the justices were prepared to overrule the landmark abortion legislation. If it's overturned, individual states will be able to ban abortion and thirteen states, including Mississippi, currently have so-called trigger laws that would immediately bring about the bans.

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Reeves confirmed that the end of Roe vs. Wade would see the 2007 Mississippi trigger ban — which makes exemptions for cases of rape and to save the life of the mother, but not for incest — come into effect.

However, when pressed by host Jake Tapper about whether Mississippi would then move to restrict access to contraception such as intrauterine devices (IUD) or Plan B, Reeves dodged the question.

"That is not what we're focused on at this time," Reeves said. "This is a debate we can have once the [Supreme] Court makes its ruling."

"While I'm sure there will be conversations around America regarding [contraceptives], it's not something that we have spent a lot of time focused on," he said.

Reeves also dodged giving a definitive answer to the same question from NBC's Chuck Todd during an appearance on "Meet the Press," saying: "I don't think that's going to happen in Mississippi."

In tweets published after both interviews, Reeves said he was "pretty surprised" about the questions, but said: "I'm not interested in banning contraceptives."

Last week, a group of Republican Party lawmakers in Louisiana submitted a bill that aims to define abortion as homicide, giving people rights "from the moment of fertilization."

The language of the bill signals that some methods of contraception could be considered akin to murder in the state.