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Written by Deirdra Harris Glover
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Friday, 27 February 2009 |
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Personhood Mississippi, an anti-choice, anti-contraception organization committed to outlawing abortion under any circumstances, submitted over 130,000 (105,000 of them valid) signatures calling for a 2011 ballot initiative asking voters to define life as beginning at "the moment of fertilization." Mississippi Personhood Amendment sponsor Les Riley calls this amendment a mission from God; I call it willful endangerment of Mississippi women and families. Enacting a law that states life begins at the moment of egg fertilization renders several methods of contraception (such as the modern IUDs) illegal. Oral contraceptives would also face controversy, as many fetal personhood advocates claim that birth control pills are abortifacients despite bountiful medical evidence proving otherwise.
Take note: a Fetal Personhood Initiative doesn't merely affect women with unplanned pregnancies. These sorts of bills significantly curtail the rights of all pregnant women and families in myriad circumstances. Many women on both sides of the abortion debate are passionate about their ability to make medical decisions regarding their child/bodies at any stage of pregnancy. Sarah Palin's last pregnancy is indicative of this: she continued with state affairs after her water broke, and waited 11 hours (some of that on an airplane flight back to Alaska) to seek medical care. Sadly, women (without a governorship) have lost the right to make decisions about their children and methods of childbirth for far more pedestrian behavior.
If a Personhood initiative passes in Mississippi, the will of the courts will trump a pregnant woman's wishes should her doctors or family disagree with her judgment. This is not merely a matter of protecting the legality of abortion. It's a matter of every woman's right to plan her family as she sees fit, give birth under her own terms, preserve the integrity of her body (or even her life), and retain her moral agency.
See also National Advocates for Pregnant Women Planned Parenthood of Alabama and Mississippi |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 20 February 2010 )
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 12 February 2009 |
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HATTIESBURG, MS — Planned Parenthood of Alabama, Inc. (PPA) applauded members of the Mississippi House for standing up for the health and safety of Mississippi teens by passing HB 234, a bill that would create a comprehensive sex education pilot program.
"The passage of HB 234 is a victory for women and families in Mississippi. We are happy that the legislature is finally taking a common sense approach to dealing with the problems of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections in our state," said Felicia Brown-Williams, PPA Vice President of Public Affairs and Director of their Mississippi Public Affairs program.
Brown said further, "With Mississippi at the top of the rankings for teen births, gonorrhea and Chlamydia infection, it is time that we move past treating this as a political issue and look at these problems for what they truly are – a threat to the health and safety of our communities." |
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Written by Deirdra Harris Glover
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
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The Associated Press
JACKSON – Mississippi House Speaker Billy McCoy has headed off a potential challenge to his leadership.
McCoy said Wednesday that he will appoint a diverse group of House members to study anti-abortion proposals that conservatives were trying to push into law this year. He said the proposals will be considered in 2009.
His announcement came after the Democratic speaker and several of his allies worked behind the scenes.
A group of House conservatives had been poised Wednesday to seek a temporary change in the House operating rules to try to move an anti-abortion bill on to the governor. But some other lawmakers saw the attempt as a way to circumvent a committee chairman. Legislators generally are protective of their own operating procedures. |
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