PICAYUNE - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told an anti-abortion, pro-life rally on Saturday that Mississippi has some of the toughest laws restricting and covering abortion, and that he is against Roe vs. Wade and one day wants to see the law changed.

In addition, he said efforts by himself and other senators in the U.S. Senate was successful in getting language inserted into the massive health-care legislation, now in a House-Senate conference committee, that prohibits the use of taxpayer funds to perform abortions.

Wicker addressed a sparse crowd, braving near freezing temperatures, in Jack Read Park at St. Charles Catholic Church's pro-life rally. Church officials said they plan to do it again next year, too.

Wicker said that when he served in the State Senate under Gov. Ray Mabus that the State Legislature passed laws strictly governing abortion clinics, that Mabus vetoed it, but the legislature passed it again and it became law.

''Now Mississippi has some of the toughest laws governing abortion and those laws have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court," Wicker told the crowd, who applauded, some shouting, "Yea!"

''We also passed the 24-hour waiting period law, and we were told that the Supreme Court would not uphold that either, but it did. Now Mississippi has some of the most stringent, strict anti-abortion, pro-life laws in the nation. I am proud of that and proud to live in a state like that," Wicker said.

Wicker was appointed the state's U.S. Senator when Trent Lott resigned. He later won a special election to fill Lott's unexpired term and faces re-election in 2012.

Wicker has always been known as a pro-life advocate. He is from Tupelo where he practiced law. He is also a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.

''We also have a sizable number of senators and representatives in Washington, D.C., that at least say that taxpayer funds should not be used to fund abortions," he said.

''We have not brought everybody around to our way of thinking on this issue, but there is some progress. At least we have set out to make sure that this ill-advised health-care plan that is being considered has provisions that restrict the use of taxpayer monies for abortions," he said.

''Taxpayer funds should not be used for abortions anywhere in the U.S.," he said, prompting applause from the crowd.

He waved a copy of the U.S. Constitution and then quoted the 5th Amendment: "Nor shall any state deprive any citizen of life, liberty or property."

Wicker said that he, along with other co-sponsors, have introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate that would define life as beginning at conception. He said if that definition could be adopted, then the stage would be set in the U.S. Congress to reverse Roe vs. Wade.

''That is what I want to do," he said.

Before Wicker spoke, the Rev. William Scott Daniels with the Priest for Life organization, told the crowd that the unborn life was sacred and that the pro-life movement was making progress nationally. Daniels lives in Memphis, Tenn., and is a Dominican priest who has dedicated his life to the pro-life movement.

He told the crowd that he was in Washington, D.C., last week at the annual pro-life rally and that 300,000 marched, 50,000 more than last year.

''We live in a consumerist, throw-away society, and some treat our own children that way. Each individual has an intrinsic worth. Life is given by God and it is given for eternity," Daniels said.

''When one baby is aborted it has a negative influence on all of us." He said one of Dr. Martin Luther King's daughters works with his group and "she says this is the new civil rights movement.

''Our civilization is in grave danger if this is not stopped," he told the crowd.

St. Charles' Deacon Doug McNair said that a group of church members got together and sponsored Saturday's rally. He said some other churches helped, too. He said the church wants to make it an annual affair.

''A lot of the businesses in Pearl River County and Picayune helped, too, by donating food," he said.

Father Michael Snyder is pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.