I wonder if you can imagine what it feels like to be told, again and again, what it means to be a girl. You’re not really a full human being: you’re a sexualized baby-making organism who, once we are post-menopausal and no longer attractive, there really is no use for.
Religious zealots form a symbiotic relationship with politicians to pass draconian legislation sacrificing the rights of women. The zealots get to walk away having successfully implemented a cog in their overall attempt to implement a Christian worldview system of governing and politicians in return get tons of fundraising cash and a committed group of one-issue voters that can propel them into office.
The polling has the Mississippi amendment to define fertilized eggs as people in a virtual tie.
Mississippi voters will be determining more than the direct rights of women in Mississippi when they vote on a personhood amendment on Tuesday. The vote will also measure how far the Christian right’s misogyny will go.
I emailed a rabbi and a minister about the “divine laws” that Mississippi personhood advocates are trying to encompass in Initiative 26. Turns out some Mississippians could use a Sunday school refresher course.
Reports from Mississippi are mixed. The fate of Initiative 26 may hinge on voters like the pro-life woman whose stepdaughter had an ectopic pregnancy – and whose life was saved by a medical procedure that would be banned if the amendment passes.
The Mississippi governor has not decided whether or not he will vote for the amendment that would give rights to fertilized eggs.
If I had lived in Mississippi in 1996, would I have dared go to the hospital when I suffered a miscarriage? And if I had, would I be facing prison?
If you ever wonder how it is that the religious right can be so daft when it comes to understanding the real world effects of their preferred policies, wonder no more. It’s because they just don’t care.
In Mississippi, two ballot initiatives threaten the health and lives of women across the state, and the disenfranchisement of the largest bloc of voters in the state. A campaign based on a reproductive justice model can defeat both.
