Mississippi Personhood Amendment

[meridian_rose]

Not much I can do expect help spread the word - the UK is seeing more of this kind of anti--woman legislation proposed, but thankfully it's not being pushed through the way stuff in the US seems to be.
Originally posted by twbasketcase at Mississippi Personhood Amendment

Originally posted by gabrielleabelle at Mississippi Personhood Amendment

Okay, so I don't usually do this, but this is an issue near and dear to me and this is getting very little no attention in the mainstream media.

Mississippi is voting on November 8th on whether to pass Amendment 26, the "Personhood Amendment". This amendment would grant fertilized eggs and fetuses personhood status.

Putting aside the contentious issue of abortion, this would effectively outlaw birth control and criminalize women who have miscarriages. This is not a good thing.

Jackson Women's Health Organization is the only place women can get abortions in the entire state, and they are trying to launch a grassroots movement against this amendment. This doesn't just apply to Mississippi, though, as Personhood USA, the group that introduced this amendment, is trying to introduce identical amendments in all 50 states.

What's more, in Mississippi, this amendment is expected to pass. It even has Mississippi Democrats, including the Attorney General, Jim Hood, backing it.

The reason I'm posting this here is because I made a meager donation to the Jackson Women's Health Organization this morning, and I received a personal email back hours later - on a Sunday - thanking me and noting that I'm one of the first "outside" people to contribute.

So if you sometimes pass on political action because you figure that enough other people will do something to make a difference, make an exception on this one. My RSS reader is near silent on this amendment. I only found out about it through a feminist blog. The mainstream media is not reporting on it.

If there is ever a time to donate or send a letter in protest, this would be it.

What to do?

- Read up on it. Wake Up, Mississippi is the home of the grassroots effort to fight this amendment. Daily Kos also has a thorough story on it.

- If you can afford it, you can donate at the site's link.

- You can contact the Democratic National Committee to see why more of our representatives aren't speaking out against this.

- Like this Facebook page to help spread awareness.

Comments

[pristineungift.livejournal.com]

Oh my god thank you for doing this. I live in MS, and I've been attending protests and writing to newspapers and wearing t-shirts and generally been called a "baby killer" by the ignorant public I am trying to educate.

The thing with this amendment is it isn't even remotely constitutional. In the US, a state can't adopt a law that conflicts with the larger national constitution. This amendment invades privacy, has suspect gender classifications, and lacks the necessary medical exception for anti-abortion law that the Supreme Court has emphasized as necessary again and again. This probably will pass in MS, but then we will spend thousands of tax dollars when it is challenged in the judiciary - and it will be challenged.

This amendment proposes giving fertilized eggs greater rights than the fully developed, adult women who carry them. It takes us back to the dark ages of when women were nothing more than brood mares and bargaining chips in the world of men. It makes us chattel. And the bill cuts the other way - it will also prevent women who want children from having IVF procedures.

It is about controlling women's fertility and lives. You'll find that there is no provision preventing men from masturbating, or proposing that sperm are people. But if eggs are people, why not sperm? There is no provision against viagra - but clearly if women can't use birth control because their fertility should not be theirs to control, men should not be able to use viagra, as this is nature's way of telling them their reproductive time is over.

I usually try to keep my journal a politically free zone, but I think I will be posting this too. Women everywhere need to know about this, especially in the US. You could be next.

[meridian_rose]

It's an issue I feel strongly about, at a very basic level of bodily autonomy and in terms of gender inequality. I can't do much except join facebook groups and spread the word, but that at least I can do.

[pristineungift.livejournal.com]

Thank you for doing what you can, and for posting this here. <3

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

This is awful. I can't believe it's really happening.

Except that I can because everything just seems so terrible lately.

Your tag is appropriate ;)

[meridian_rose]

I feel we dodged a bullet over recent proposed UK changes to the law - the overwhelming response was 'none of that US evangelical fuckwittery here'. Still, our complacency was shaken. Here too we're seeing attacks on women's rights, gay rights, an increase in racism and associated violence - the economic crisis seems to have turned everyone into 'the enemy'. So any small part I can play in saying 'enough' makes me feel that tiny bit less hopeless.

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know about it until I read your and Pris's posts, and I pay some attention to current events. (I don't read about everything, but I would have expected to hear about this.)

You're right that the economic crisis is the problem - whenever money is concerned, people start behaving worse.

I'm glad you posted about this - I feel like there isn't much I can do, but I want to do something. It's just so horrifying.