Mississippi Madness

Activists from Operation Save America, formerly known as Operation Rescue, have been in Jackson since Saturday for eight days of protests against the state's only abortion clinic, the Jackson Women's Health Organization in the Fondren neighborhood.

During a demonstration at the Capitol on Tuesday, anti-abortion activists tore up pages from the Quran, the Muslim holy book, along with a gay pride flag and copies of six U.S. Supreme Court rulings related to religion in public schools, sodomy and abortion. ...

Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe behind the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion who later became an anti-abortion activist, lit the match, McEwen said. McEwen said the Quran was burned because it condones violence.

Imam Shaheed Muhammad of Masjid Muhammad in Jackson said Islam opposes abortion. "We don't support abortion," he said. "I don't know why they would attack us on that issue." For Muslims, desecrating the Quran or any holy book is the "highest degree of insult," Muhammad said.