Mississippi voters Tuesday defeated a ballot initiative that would've declared life begins at fertilization, a proposal that supporters sought in the Bible Belt state as a way to prompt a legal challenge to abortion rights nationwide.
The so-called "personhood" initiative was rejected by more than 55 percent of voters, falling far short of the threshold needed for it to be enacted. If it had passed, it was virtually assured of drawing legal challenges because it conflicts with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion. Supporters of the initiative wanted to provoke a lawsuit to challenge the landmark ruling.
The measure divided the medical and religious communities and caused some of the most ardent abortion opponents, including Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, to waver with their support.
I cannot express how happy I am that this initiative failed. If it had passed it would have started the kind of chain reaction across the southern states that could have eventually rendered Roe vs Wade essentially impotent.
Good on you Mississippi!
WOOT!!!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Mississippi for their vote. In news from AZ, the bigoted homophobe state senate president Russell Pearce did not survive his recall election.
ReplyDeleteHe's the guy responsible for the anti-immigration bill (SB1070)and a host of other ill-advised and illogical pieces of legislation. He's also a close friend and political ally of Jan Brewer - and thus Sarah Palin - and now he's gone. YEEEEEAAAAHHHH!
So how come they elected another GOP Governor to replace windbag Haley? Do they not think this will come up again? I. too, am more than relieved that it failed, but I have to think the Kochs will be at it somewhere else next fall. Anyone who thinks GOP men see women as anything other than mothers and sex objects needs to take off the blinders and get the heck out of the GOP. The only thing they understand is money and power.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, this issue came out of Colorado. Firstly - WTF right does Colorado have to piss around with Mississippi's state elections to have crap like this added on the ballot?
ReplyDeleteSecondly - It had FAILED in Colorado. That they couldn't do it in their own state -- fuck off out of the others.
I am very glad that the "personhood" proposition failed in Mississippi. I wonder whether Mitt Romney will change his position on it???
ReplyDeleteIn the midst of this wonderful, victorious day for the Left, Alaskans are in my thoughts. Stay safe in that wild storm. Best wishes to all from Brooklyn, NY!
ReplyDeleteMyself and several other friends and acquaintances have commiserated in the realization that we've all experienced miscarriages. It is as common-place as any other life event that marks our time here on earth. Even the sainted life-chooser Sarah Palin has suffered through them. I'm sure Bristol will one day admit to it also too (though I don't wish it on anyone.)
ReplyDeleteTo think we'd have to prove our loss was an act of God, and making God's act criminal, is a f'ing insult adding to injury.
I'm mystified it didn't pass. Did you hear the guy leading the effort out of Colorado is the father of in-vitro children? He got his, but he'll deny others.
ReplyDeleteRight from the Bible Belt, the "mandation" (Sarah's word) is to leave women alone. Go find something else to hate you arrogant pricks.
I wish it had passed so people could see just what they think of women in the GOP.
ReplyDeleteif people saw the consequences it might be more clear that these decisions are nobody else's business.
From coast to coast, Democrats and progressive goals not only won, but in most instances, won big. Some of the highlights….
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/voters_deliver_major_setbacks033372.php
Democratic Victories! The people have spoken and it is good.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drErFBH-a64&feature=channel_video_title
I'm mystified it didn't pass. Did you hear the guy leading the effort out of Colorado is the father of in-vitro children? He got his, but he'll deny others.
ReplyDeleteAnd in other news from MN, it's always the women who have guilt about their own abortions who are overzealous about banning them for others. They got to keep their lives but intend to stop other women from exercising that same choice.
The inmates of the religious right at least got shot down this time. Maybe people are starting to wake up to the dangers of the religious right.
this is also about family productive rights, a man's productive right.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that the argument is about when human life begins isn't the right argument.
Of course human life begins at conception -- it's not fish life, or refrigeration life, or candle life -- but that's not what the issue should be about.
it's about whether or not you can force a woman AND a man to be pregnant and have a child.
it's the ultimate slavery and it's only to control women in the guise of "gift from god".
these religious zealots are sick in the head and should be ousted from decent society.
I am THRILLED that voters got properly educated about what the law really meant. It seems like most of my life, ultra-right wingers don't care about FACTS or SCIENCE, and certainly not women.
ReplyDeleteIf this had passed, a woman with a dangerous ectopic pregnancy couldn't have it removed. They would be expected to let it grow until it burst, potentially killing her. Unbelievable.
This law was so bad even HALEY BARBOUR was agin' it. That's really saying something. Thank god the message got out, and voters smartly rejected it.
I had a lump in my throat while watching Ed and LOD last night. I never imagined that this personhood amendment would be overturned in a state like Mississippi, That's a really big statement and a powerful example that our votes are important.
ReplyDeleteA milestone for Unions and Women's reproductive rights!
My thoughts go out to the people of Alaska, this storm is one for the record books.
If this initiative had passed it would have gone to the Supreme Court. We all know how that ends with the current court.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the not so hidden goals of laws and initiatives like this one in Mississippi. Overturning Roe v. Wade in the US Supreme Court. The right wing don't have to win every time, just once.
Like many others, this issue is personal to me. I nearly died from my first ectopic pregnancy and had a second a year later. My husband saved my life getting me to the hospital after losing several pints of blood. The second was in 1970 and the doctor told me they were experimenting in England with in vitro. In 1978 Louise Brown was born.
ReplyDeleteIt was too late for me to have a baby but I was so happy that others were able to have a child through the marvels of science.
I hope this never comes up on a ballot in any state ever again.
Amazing to think that even in Ole Miss, not everyone wants to equate a two cell zygote with full legal rights as a human being.
ReplyDeleteIf that became law, I could see idiots like Jim Demint and $arah Palin demanding uterine autopsies after traffic accidents to determine if a 4 cell egg was aborted or miscarried.
I swear to you, that what the far right fringe religious supremacists want is the HandMaid's Tale society.
Where women and girls are reduced to nothing but servile beasts of fecundity..
(Bristol and Willow, you can look up the big words)
I dunno... giving women control of their own bodies? Really? It might sound like a good idea at first, but are we sure we've thought through all the consequences? Because it doesnt stop there.
ReplyDeleteFirst you give women the right to control their uteri, then they want to go to school, then they want to vote, then they want to drive cars, then they want to work at equal pay as men, then they cast off the burqa and the veil... nag, nag, nag....
Women.... give 'em an inch, they take a mile!
(Breaking news: the controversial "Dandruff is people" local referendum has failed by a narrow margin in Possum Butt, Arkansas. Pro-life advocates say they will continue the fight to "protect every sacred every human cell". Credited with the defeat is large outside contributions from the powerful cosmetology industry which feared the criminalization of hair cutting, electrolysis and manicures if the measure had passed.)
This is what democracy looks like when we occupy the voting booths.
ReplyDeleteYes we can.
This initiative was far beyond anti-abortion. It was anti-contraception. It was actually beyond that. It was so extreme even conservative Mississippi understood it went way, way too far. I am thankful.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest ironies of this bill which deserved to fail was that it would have forced women to have babies they didn't want, even in situations that were life-threatening to the mothers, yet it would have denied invitro fertilization to women who have longed to have children but have fertility problems. Aside from being regressive, it simply defied logic, common sense, and even compassion. Congratulations to the Mississippians who voted this travesty down, and the ones who were for it need their heads examined.
ReplyDeleteAs a woman who has had a state funded abortion (thanks new York!) I am beyond thrilled this personhood amendment failed. No one has the same circumstances surrounding their want or need to terminate a pregnancy. I was 20, 95lb due to an eating disorder, and I bled thru The first FOUR months of my pregnancy. I had no idea what I looked like when I looked in the mirror, and even at 20 weeks, I had no idea I was pregnant. I found out during a doctors appointment for an endoscopy. They had to give me a pregnancy test before putting me under. The OBGYN had told me that if I carried to term, I would have a failure to thrive fetus. The nerve of ANYONE to force me to carry a dead fetus in my young womb until my incredibly malnourished body was ready to push it out is horrific. My doctor told me that in my condition, eve the act of giving birth would have killed me. I would love to have a discussion with one of these personhood people and ask them, is my life so unimportant that I deserve to die? Just to give birth to a dead child? Should I be jailed because my birth control failed? Because I failed to have any of the tell tale signs of pregnancy? Am I a murder because my mental illness resulted in a failure to thrive pregnancy that I was not even aware of?
ReplyDeleteIt's so easy to pass judgement on people, until you have to stare someone in the face and say that the cells in a womb are more important than the fully formed human being that carries it.
Bravo to the people of Mississippi.
As a woman who has had a state funded abortion (thanks new York!) I am beyond thrilled this personhood amendment failed. No one has the same circumstances surrounding their want or need to terminate a pregnancy. I was 20, 95lb due to an eating disorder, and I bled thru The first FOUR months of my pregnancy. I had no idea what I looked like when I looked in the mirror, and even at 20 weeks, I had no idea I was pregnant. I found out during a doctors appointment for an endoscopy. They had to give me a pregnancy test before putting me under. The OBGYN had told me that if I carried to term, I would have a failure to thrive fetus. The nerve of ANYONE to force me to carry a dead fetus in my young womb until my incredibly malnourished body was ready to push it out is horrific. My doctor told me that in my condition, eve the act of giving birth would have killed me. I would love to have a discussion with one of these personhood people and ask them, is my life so unimportant that I deserve to die? Just to give birth to a dead child? Should I be jailed because my birth control failed? Because I failed to have any of the tell tale signs of pregnancy? Am I a murder because my mental illness resulted in a failure to thrive pregnancy that I was not even aware of?
ReplyDeleteIt's so easy to pass judgement on people, until you have to stare someone in the face and say that the cells in a womb are more important than the fully formed human being that carries it.
Bravo to the people of Mississippi.
I guess the Tee Peers forgot that alot of men married and single have something to loose if the birth pill goes away.
ReplyDeleteNot the least of which is a lot more paternity law suits.
I notice that everyone posting here is already born. When did you become a person? It's easy to pick on babies in the womb. They can't defend themselves. One day, however, you will meet those little "persons" when you stand before the judgment seat. Wonder what you'll say then?
ReplyDelete