The C is for Crank
Mississippi's "Personhood" Amendment Fails
UPDATE at 7:20 PM, as voters soundly reject the anti-choice law:
Whew. That was a close one.
Well, (fortunately), not really: Mississippi voters apparently saw through the anti-choice "personhood" constitutional amendment, which would have banned not just abortions but hormonal birth control, emergency contraception, miscarriages, IUDs, and in vitro fertilization by designating all "fertilized eggs" as human beings with full constitutional rights. With 41 percent of ballots counted, the measure was losing 41 to 59.
The proposal, an obvious ploy by anti-choicers to spur a Supreme Court challenge to Roe v. Wade, was widely expected to pass as recently as a week ago. Apparently, Mississippi women---99 percent of whom, like women throughout the United States, have used some form of birth control other than the rhythm method in their lives---decided they did not want their reproductive choices to be criminalized.
A small battle won, perhaps, but an important one in the war on women.
Original Post:
I know this is a little far afield, but there's a vote in Mississippi (the state of my birth, and home to many of my dear family members and some great food) today that you should pay attention to. The so-called "personhood" amendment to the state constitution would redefine a "person" to "include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof?” The amendment, in short, would give a fertilized egg more rights than the woman carrying it.
The amendment is part of a nationwide effort to spur a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that determined abortion is legal under the Fourteenth Amendment right to privacy. However, the "personhood" amendment would go even further than similar amendments in other states, by setting "fertilization" as the point at which a sperm and an egg become "human."
The proposal would have the effect of criminalizing not just all abortions---including abortions in cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the woman (allowing doctors to deny dying women life-saving abortions)---but miscarriages, stillbirths, emergency contraception, hormonal contraception (the Pill), and IUDs, which work not just by preventing conception but, in some cases, by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. It would also take away women's right to make their own medical decisions regarding pregnancy, labor, and delivery. And it could criminalize in vitro fertilization, which typically requires the destruction of numerous unused fertilized eggs.
On the same ballot, incidentally: A "voter ID measure" which requires voters to show state-issued government ID (typically a driver's license, which costs $14 in Mississippi) at the polls. The ID law, like Jim Crow-era poll taxes, is certain to suppress voter turnout among black voters and the elderly, who are less likely to have state-issued ID. Black residents of Mississippi, incidentally, are far more likely to be low-income---and in need of abortions, birth control, and prenatal services---than other state residents, making the two measures a devastating one-two punch against poor women of color in the poorest state in the nation.
Whew. That was a close one.
Well, (fortunately), not really: Mississippi voters apparently saw through the anti-choice "personhood" constitutional amendment, which would have banned not just abortions but hormonal birth control, emergency contraception, miscarriages, IUDs, and in vitro fertilization by designating all "fertilized eggs" as human beings with full constitutional rights. With 41 percent of ballots counted, the measure was losing 41 to 59.
The proposal, an obvious ploy by anti-choicers to spur a Supreme Court challenge to Roe v. Wade, was widely expected to pass as recently as a week ago. Apparently, Mississippi women---99 percent of whom, like women throughout the United States, have used some form of birth control other than the rhythm method in their lives---decided they did not want their reproductive choices to be criminalized.
A small battle won, perhaps, but an important one in the war on women.
Original Post:
I know this is a little far afield, but there's a vote in Mississippi (the state of my birth, and home to many of my dear family members and some great food) today that you should pay attention to. The so-called "personhood" amendment to the state constitution would redefine a "person" to "include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof?” The amendment, in short, would give a fertilized egg more rights than the woman carrying it.
The amendment is part of a nationwide effort to spur a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that determined abortion is legal under the Fourteenth Amendment right to privacy. However, the "personhood" amendment would go even further than similar amendments in other states, by setting "fertilization" as the point at which a sperm and an egg become "human."
The proposal would have the effect of criminalizing not just all abortions---including abortions in cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the woman (allowing doctors to deny dying women life-saving abortions)---but miscarriages, stillbirths, emergency contraception, hormonal contraception (the Pill), and IUDs, which work not just by preventing conception but, in some cases, by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. It would also take away women's right to make their own medical decisions regarding pregnancy, labor, and delivery. And it could criminalize in vitro fertilization, which typically requires the destruction of numerous unused fertilized eggs.
On the same ballot, incidentally: A "voter ID measure" which requires voters to show state-issued government ID (typically a driver's license, which costs $14 in Mississippi) at the polls. The ID law, like Jim Crow-era poll taxes, is certain to suppress voter turnout among black voters and the elderly, who are less likely to have state-issued ID. Black residents of Mississippi, incidentally, are far more likely to be low-income---and in need of abortions, birth control, and prenatal services---than other state residents, making the two measures a devastating one-two punch against poor women of color in the poorest state in the nation.
