The House Public Health and Human Services Committee met this  this afternoon, and
heavily amended the three bills handed down by the Senate, consolidating them into one measure, available here.  As of late Thursday afternoon, the House passed the amended version, 95-16. 

The two respective Health committees will now likely conference to try and reach a compromise between the two different versions.

Until a date is set for the joint committees to meet, please continue to call the members of the House and Senate Public Health and Human Services Committees, and let your opinion on each version of these bill/s be heard.  Also, contact your House representative (you'll be able to see how they voted here  within a few hours) and let them know how you feel about their vote.

The Senate has passed three pieces of anti-abortion legislature this month, and have sent them to the House Public Health and Human Services Committee for consideration.  Steve Holland (D-Plantersville), chairman of the committee, has publicly stated his committee would not consider these bills.

Speaker of the House William J. McCoy (D-Alcorn, Prentiss) has received an outpouring of calls from anti-abortion activists, urging him to press the issue with Holland. McCoy wields considerable power over the House as its Speaker, which could include forcing Holland to bring these measures before the House Public Health and Human Services Committee.

Continue to flood your House representatives with phone calls (which will do more good than email at this point), as well as calling Chairman Holland and Speaker McCoy.  Often, our elected officials don't directly hear from their constituency, and your voice is powerful: one need only look at the pressure McCoy is receiving to recognize how important three short phone calls can be.

Speaker of the House William McCoy (601-359-3300)
Simply explain you're a Mississippi voter,  and that you're calling to ask McCoy to respect and support Rep. Holland's decision not to hear the three anti-abortions in committee.  Feel free to offer your opinion here, as well: if you need help constructing talking points, these may help you:

• criminalizing abortion is a blight on women's health and safety
• you support legislation and public services to help reduce the numbers of elective abortions
• challenging Roe v. Wade would be costly for any state, let alone a state that is still rebuilding from disaster.
  

Committee Chairman, Representative Steve Holland (601-359-3320)
Simply explain you're a Mississippi voter,  and that you're calling to ask Holland to hold his ground and not hear the three anti-abortions in committee.  Again, don't hesitate to assert your opinion here: there are plenty of issues you can urge Holland to consider for the 2008 session, including

• increased funding for women's health issues and child welfare
• comprehensive sex education
  
• unfettered access to reliable birth control at your local pharmacies 

House Representative
If you don't already know your House representative, use a site like Project Vote Smart to find your state/local representatives.  The site also will have their phone numbers and email addresses. Ask your representative to support Chairman Holland's decision to not hear the anti-abortion measures sent down by the house, and urge them to support more progressive, educated and helpful bills next year.