On November 8th, 2011 in the General Election for Mississippi, there will be three Ballot Initiatives to vote on. 26 - to redefine "person" in our constitution, 27 - to require voter ID (ie disenfranchise voters) and 31 - to restrict the use of eminent domain.
I am Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. There is no contradiction there. Contradiction lies in someone claiming to be Pro-Life and supporting pollution, the death penalty and opposing programs to help care for and feed children - both before and after birth - and public education for all. Anti-Choice is the more accurate term for those opposed to abortion.
Nobody is Pro-Abortion. Its not an easy choice to make, but sometimes, it is the right thing to do, for the good of all involved - even the potential child. If you are privileged enough to not even have to consider the option, good for you, but do not deny anyone else the ability to make the hard decision to do the right thing.
(I've outlined more reasons why to vote no on 26 in this post and more on why Anti-Abortion is not Pro-Life in this post.)
If you are on Twitter, follow @NoOnMS26 and @MS4HealthyFams (and @BobbyKearan ).
On Facebook, Like the Mississippians for Health Families link at the top and join two previously started grassroots groups - "Vote no on Mississippi Amendment 26" and "Mississippians against Personhood Amendment"
The most important thing to know about i26 is that, realistically, the initiative might not even outlaw abortions in Mississippi. If you think this is an anti-abortion bill, think again! All it actually says is that "person" is redefined to be all humans from the moment of fertilization. That is it. No, "makes abortion illegal" or "ends abortion" - Nothing. All actual effects it has is left up to the courts and state legislature. So when supporters say, "it doesn't say anything about outlawing birth control" they are technically right - but it also doesn't say anything about outlawing abortion either. They know this, so, by saying it will not result in "The Pill" being outlawed, they are lying ( further down, I link to proof ).
"Vote yes on 26" dot net - is a largely out of state group. The yeson26.net people have pulled some nasty deceptions. They have even sunk as low as hijacking the URL "http://mississippiansforhealthyfamilies.com" and setting up an attack website there. The actual url for Mississippians for Healthy Families is http://votenoon26.com/ - Vote No on 26, Mississippi! My fliers have been pulled down, yard signs for "No" have been stolen and comments on their Facebook page have been deleted for revealing the truth - not for opposing or attacking, but just for revealing information. I posted on one of their posts and both comments were removed and I can no longer comment. My comments were :
They point out that out of state people are involved in the resistance, those freedom fighters campaigning against the horrible "26." They, however, fail to also note that the anti-choice "yeson26.net" is backed by many more out of state organizations and people (and significantly more money!). Personhood USA - based in Colorado - is the driving force behind the proposal. They brought in Mike Huckabee (of Arkansas) to raise money. "Georgia Right To Life" is a driving force behind a supposedly Mississippi based organization. A California 'Reverend' has been brought in to convince the 'communities of color.'
They claim that there is "Big Money" behind opposing 26 - however, have you seen more "yes" tv commercials, radio spots, yard signs or more "no"? What about their website? Man, that is slick and pricey. So, if you want to see where the "Big Out of State Money" is - they have it. (update : some tv ads for "No" are running and I've seen billboards are up in some places!)
Calling them extremists is well backed up as well. Personhood Mississippi is founded and directed by Les Riley, a long-time proponent of usurping our nation's constitution and creating a theocracy in it's place.
They even admit that the amendment throws all kinds of laws into question :
[UPDATE] Now they have altered their FAQ page and changed their answers! It appears the Truth didn't sit well with Mississippians, so they've changed the text. Deep-Fried Thinkers goes into more detail!
I found This article while searching for "Mississippians for Healthy Families" - the official group opposing the Personhood amendment. I just thought I'd correct some of the vote yes on 26 group's misinformation from their press release and the story above.
The Personhood Amendment WILL result in more prosecutions of women for miscarriages. Why do I say "more?" Because its already an established process. ( See : Utah and Mississippi ) Mississippi has already charged a 15 year old girl with Depraved Heart Murder for having a miscarriage (while using drugs). When a fertilized egg is a "person" it will be much worse. Right now when you have a miscarriage, its between you and your doctor for the most part. When a "person" dies, you must call in the coroner for a preliminary investigation and a death certificate.
The Outlawing of Contraceptives. To be fair, only birth control pills (BCP), other Hormonal Birth Control and Inter-Uterine Devices will be outlawed. Those methods prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall - even as a third tier effect. Condoms will still be legal, since that prevents fertilization in the first place.
This is a big one that they have changed, returned and changed again on. "The Pill" they are currently claiming will not be outlawed. Well, their phrasing says that "the amendment will not outlaw birth control" - and it won't by itself, but the re-defining of a person will have the effect of outlawing birth control pills.
A retired OBGYN, Beverly A. McMillan, M.D. is on their board and is quoted in the previous link as saying, "I painfully agree that birth control pills do in fact cause abortions." So, how can they tell you with a straight face that the amendment will not outlaw the pill? They can't. They Lie.
Rev. W. Hoye, a Personhood USA spokesman from California who is trying to indoctrinate the Black Community to vote "yes" admits that "The Pill" will be outlawed, if what Dr. McMillan says is true.
Of course, with the abstinence only policies pushed by the state currently that either ignore protection all together or emphasize that they don't work, unwanted pregnancies will skyrocket and many more Mississippians will rely on welfare to get by.
In Vitro Fertilization will be effectively outlawed. The process fertilizes many eggs outside the woman's body and inserts them until one attaches to the uterine wall and becomes a pregnancy. With the "Personhood" law in effect, all those fertilized eggs will be people, therefore, if they are not used, they will be, effectively, murdered. So, no doctor will want to risk such charges.
Les Riley dug up this quote to share on their "bioethics"* page and I changed the emphasis :
Risks to women's health. The biggest factor here is ectopic pregnancies or tubal pregnancies.
In October 2007, The Guardian reported :
Maybe it would be a little less insane if it sought to define 'person' as being from the moment of implantation in the uterus - when a woman becomes pregnant. Using 'moment of fertilization' has got to be used to target In Vitro Fertilization.
Abortion is a big business? On average, there are only 3,200 abortions in Mississippi each year - and Planned Parenthood performs none of them. Many of those are teenagers, due to the state not wanting to educate them on how not to get pregnant when having sex. Not quite "Big Business."
On the Federal level, only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services are abortion related and none of the federal tax dollars go toward those services, as that is already against the law. Outlawing abortion would do absolutely nothing to hurt Planned Parenthood, but would do a lot to damage Mississippi and our Young Women.
Most of the areas Mississippi leads the Nation in are really bad statistics. Draw your own conclusions about Mississippi leading to pass this kind of legislation.
Proponents of the silly amendment do believe that this is the first state where their legislation is likely to pass - because they think we are really that stupid. Even National Right To Life refused to support this kind of legislation "because they thought it was counter-productive and likely to be struck down as unconstitutional."
A waste of money? Pushing this initiative and all the advertising they are doing when they know full well that Mississippi law states that the Initiative process can not be used to alter the "Bill of Rights" section of the State Constitution is a waste of money. It will cost the state and taxpayers dearly if this passes on the ballot and then must be struck down by the courts.
If by some malfeasance of the court, it actually stands if passed, it would lead, statistically speaking, to 739 additional teen births per year, which would cost our taxpayers, roughly, an additional $16 Million dollars per year. (see High Cost of Teen Birth) Do you think an poor, unemployed teenager would be able to pay the $11,000 plus price tag of giving birth? Young women (and by association, young men) would have very little to keep them in the state and lots of reasons to leave as soon as possible.
I hope that the Majority in Mississippi are really not so stupid as to pass this horrible initiative.
Mississippi Doctors Against 26 are uhm... are Against 26. :)
For your "Vote No on 26" bumper stickers and a t-shirt, go to http://www.zazzle.com/ms_bobbykearan
Watch my New Video - Every Child
Also check out Parents Against MS 26 and an article on The Daily Mississippi Online.
Read this article about the new battle on abortion rights.
Read The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library)
Terminology
"Vote yes on 26" dot net - is a largely out of state group. The yeson26.net people have pulled some nasty deceptions. They have even sunk as low as hijacking the URL "http://mississippiansforhealthyfamilies.com" and setting up an attack website there. The actual url for Mississippians for Healthy Families is http://votenoon26.com/ - Vote No on 26, Mississippi! My fliers have been pulled down, yard signs for "No" have been stolen and comments on their Facebook page have been deleted for revealing the truth - not for opposing or attacking, but just for revealing information. I posted on one of their posts and both comments were removed and I can no longer comment. My comments were :
"" The Amendment's language neither expresses nor implies a ban on abortion either. There is no guarantee about what this will or won't do as is all left up to the courts. I suppose the question becomes "Do you trust the government to decide everything about your mother, your sister or your daughter's pregnancy?"and (in reply to a quote used)
retired OBGYN and yeson26.net board member, Beverly A. McMillan, M.D. : "I painfully agree that birth control pills do in fact cause abortions."
They point out that out of state people are involved in the resistance, those freedom fighters campaigning against the horrible "26." They, however, fail to also note that the anti-choice "yeson26.net" is backed by many more out of state organizations and people (and significantly more money!). Personhood USA - based in Colorado - is the driving force behind the proposal. They brought in Mike Huckabee (of Arkansas) to raise money. "Georgia Right To Life" is a driving force behind a supposedly Mississippi based organization. A California 'Reverend' has been brought in to convince the 'communities of color.'
They claim that there is "Big Money" behind opposing 26 - however, have you seen more "yes" tv commercials, radio spots, yard signs or more "no"? What about their website? Man, that is slick and pricey. So, if you want to see where the "Big Out of State Money" is - they have it. (update : some tv ads for "No" are running and I've seen billboards are up in some places!)
Calling them extremists is well backed up as well. Personhood Mississippi is founded and directed by Les Riley, a long-time proponent of usurping our nation's constitution and creating a theocracy in it's place.
They even admit that the amendment throws all kinds of laws into question :
"The legislature and the courts will still have to wrestle with the application of the law to specific circumstances.Then pawn off any and all responsibility for the repercussions of such a reckless change to our constitution (the misspelling is theirs):
IVF
stem cell research
some forms of birth controll
embryo adoption
(and many more areas)
all may be touched by this law, but none are directly addressed."
"The Personhood Amendment sets the parameters – lawmakers, judges, members of the excutive branch are still charged with the duty of dealing with the myriad of possible applications."Another thing to consider : Women are not pregnant until the fertilized egg actually attaches to the uterine wall and starts developing. So, this amendment will make a 'person' before a pregnancy occurs!
[UPDATE] Now they have altered their FAQ page and changed their answers! It appears the Truth didn't sit well with Mississippians, so they've changed the text. Deep-Fried Thinkers goes into more detail!
I found This article while searching for "Mississippians for Healthy Families" - the official group opposing the Personhood amendment. I just thought I'd correct some of the vote yes on 26 group's misinformation from their press release and the story above.
The Personhood Amendment WILL result in more prosecutions of women for miscarriages. Why do I say "more?" Because its already an established process. ( See : Utah and Mississippi ) Mississippi has already charged a 15 year old girl with Depraved Heart Murder for having a miscarriage (while using drugs). When a fertilized egg is a "person" it will be much worse. Right now when you have a miscarriage, its between you and your doctor for the most part. When a "person" dies, you must call in the coroner for a preliminary investigation and a death certificate.
The Outlawing of Contraceptives. To be fair, only birth control pills (BCP), other Hormonal Birth Control and Inter-Uterine Devices will be outlawed. Those methods prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall - even as a third tier effect. Condoms will still be legal, since that prevents fertilization in the first place.
This is a big one that they have changed, returned and changed again on. "The Pill" they are currently claiming will not be outlawed. Well, their phrasing says that "the amendment will not outlaw birth control" - and it won't by itself, but the re-defining of a person will have the effect of outlawing birth control pills.
A retired OBGYN, Beverly A. McMillan, M.D. is on their board and is quoted in the previous link as saying, "I painfully agree that birth control pills do in fact cause abortions." So, how can they tell you with a straight face that the amendment will not outlaw the pill? They can't. They Lie.
Rev. W. Hoye, a Personhood USA spokesman from California who is trying to indoctrinate the Black Community to vote "yes" admits that "The Pill" will be outlawed, if what Dr. McMillan says is true.
Of course, with the abstinence only policies pushed by the state currently that either ignore protection all together or emphasize that they don't work, unwanted pregnancies will skyrocket and many more Mississippians will rely on welfare to get by.
In Vitro Fertilization will be effectively outlawed. The process fertilizes many eggs outside the woman's body and inserts them until one attaches to the uterine wall and becomes a pregnancy. With the "Personhood" law in effect, all those fertilized eggs will be people, therefore, if they are not used, they will be, effectively, murdered. So, no doctor will want to risk such charges.
Les Riley dug up this quote to share on their "bioethics"* page and I changed the emphasis :
However ccording to Fritz Baumgartner, MD (a surgeon and UCLA medical professor):
“Every human embryologist worldwide states that the life of the new individual human being begins at fertilization. No human embryologist has ever described human life as “potential” human life. Thus, killing the embryo — by harvesting embryonic stem cells, by using abortifacient contraceptives, by committing so-called therapeutic cloning, or by flushing spare in-vitro fertilization embryos down the sink — takes that human life.“
Risks to women's health. The biggest factor here is ectopic pregnancies or tubal pregnancies.
"There is no way to save an ectopic pregnancy. It cannot turn into a normal pregnancy. If the egg keeps growing in the fallopian tube, it can damage or burst the tube and cause heavy bleeding that could be deadly. If you have an ectopic pregnancy, you will need quick treatment to end it before it causes dangerous problems."However, with the fertilized egg being considered a Person, with full rights, those pregnancies can not legally be terminated. So, doctors are faced with murdering the egg or in effect murdering the woman. Some doctors may even refuse to treat women at all due to the dangers of such occurrences.
In October 2007, The Guardian reported :
Last November it became a crime for a woman to have an abortion in Nicaragua, even if her life was in mortal danger. So far it has resulted in the death of at least 82 women. (11 months, 82 deaths)
Maybe it would be a little less insane if it sought to define 'person' as being from the moment of implantation in the uterus - when a woman becomes pregnant. Using 'moment of fertilization' has got to be used to target In Vitro Fertilization.
Dr. Randall S. Hines , a fertility specialist in Jackson working against Proposition 26 with the group Mississippians for Healthy Families, said that the amendment reflects “biological ignorance.” Most fertilized eggs, he said, do not implant in the uterus or develop further.
“Once you recognize that the majority of fertilized eggs don’t become people, then you recognize how absurd this amendment is,” Dr. Hines said. He fears severe unintended consequences for doctors and women dealing with ectopic or other dangerous pregnancies and for in vitro fertility treatments. “We’ll be asking the Legislature, the governor, judges to decide what is best for the patient,” he said.
Abortion is a big business? On average, there are only 3,200 abortions in Mississippi each year - and Planned Parenthood performs none of them. Many of those are teenagers, due to the state not wanting to educate them on how not to get pregnant when having sex. Not quite "Big Business."
On the Federal level, only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services are abortion related and none of the federal tax dollars go toward those services, as that is already against the law. Outlawing abortion would do absolutely nothing to hurt Planned Parenthood, but would do a lot to damage Mississippi and our Young Women.
Most of the areas Mississippi leads the Nation in are really bad statistics. Draw your own conclusions about Mississippi leading to pass this kind of legislation.
Proponents of the silly amendment do believe that this is the first state where their legislation is likely to pass - because they think we are really that stupid. Even National Right To Life refused to support this kind of legislation "because they thought it was counter-productive and likely to be struck down as unconstitutional."
A waste of money? Pushing this initiative and all the advertising they are doing when they know full well that Mississippi law states that the Initiative process can not be used to alter the "Bill of Rights" section of the State Constitution is a waste of money. It will cost the state and taxpayers dearly if this passes on the ballot and then must be struck down by the courts.
If by some malfeasance of the court, it actually stands if passed, it would lead, statistically speaking, to 739 additional teen births per year, which would cost our taxpayers, roughly, an additional $16 Million dollars per year. (see High Cost of Teen Birth) Do you think an poor, unemployed teenager would be able to pay the $11,000 plus price tag of giving birth? Young women (and by association, young men) would have very little to keep them in the state and lots of reasons to leave as soon as possible.
I hope that the Majority in Mississippi are really not so stupid as to pass this horrible initiative.
Mississippi Doctors Against 26 are uhm... are Against 26. :)
For your "Vote No on 26" bumper stickers and a t-shirt, go to http://www.zazzle.com/ms_bobbykearan
Watch my New Video - Every Child
Also check out Parents Against MS 26 and an article on The Daily Mississippi Online.
Read this article about the new battle on abortion rights.
Read The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library)
Terminology
Nobody is Pro-Abortion. Its not an easy choice to make, but sometimes, it is the right thing to do, for the good of all involved - even the potential child. If you are privileged enough to not even have to consider the option, good for you, but do not deny anyone else the ability to make the hard decision to do the right thing.
(I've outlined more reasons why to vote no on 26 in this post and more on why Anti-Abortion is not Pro-Life in this post.)
If you are on Twitter, follow @NoOnMS26 and @MS4HealthyFams (and @BobbyKearan ).
On Facebook, Like the Mississippians for Health Families link at the top and join two previously started grassroots groups - "Vote no on Mississippi Amendment 26" and "Mississippians against Personhood Amendment"
Check out this video explanation of how birth control works.
* It is my contention that these people have no idea what Ethics really are nor what it means to be ethical.
