'You have maternity leave': Mississippi attorney general claims abortion ban 'empowers' women

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) defended her state's 15-week abortion ban on Tuesday by insisting that today's women are empowered with benefits like maternity care.

Fitch made the remarks on Fox News just one day before the U.S. Supreme Court convenes to hear arguments in the case against the abortion ban.

"What do you say to a woman who does not share your point of view," Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked, "who says that she believes that she has the right over her own body to make that decision and she does not want that right to be taken away from her?"

"You know, for 50 years, we didn't really help those women," Fitch replied. "We didn't talk about how we could empower them, we didn't talk about opportunities, where if you look at the statistics now, I mean, women are successful. We have been able to balance our professional lives and our family lives. We didn't do that before."

"And now you have maternity leave, paternity leave, so many things that were not available to women," she added. "And so, now is the right time to have that conversation."

Zippia estimates that only 16% of women working in private industries have access to paid maternity leave.

Watch the video below from Fox News.