We say that we are a country that's full of men and women that represents and loves the very essence of the meaning of the word "freedom". Indeed, the official motto of the great state of New Hampshire is "Live Free or Die".
However from the tall and grandiose timbers located in New Hampshire's Abbott State Forest, to the majestic Badger Mountains of Nevada, Americans are constantly under attack by fellow Americans whose religious and political ideology compels them to try to impose their antiquated and puritanical beliefs on all Americans via laws that unequivocally suffocate personal liberties and abolishes national freedom.
Interestingly, the aforementioned "liberty suffocating laws" all originate from the very same hypocritical minds that advocate and "hoot and holler" for capital punishment and believe that corporations are people.
On Tuesday Novemeber 8, 2011, Mississippians will be afforded the opportunity to vote for or against Mississippi's "Initiative 26", a conservative based bill that would essentially strip away a woman's right to (1) obtain certain forms of birth control and (2) have an abortion by defining personhood "as a human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof."
Because the amendment would define a fertilized egg as a person with full legal rights, it would have an immediate impact on a woman's ability to obtain the morning-after pill or birth control pills that destroy fertilized eggs. Additionally it could make in vitro fertilization treatments illegal because under the current ambiguous interpretation of the amendment, disposal of unused fertilized eggs would be equivalent to committing murder.
Mississippi's "Initiative 26" is destined to instigate a nationwide debate over women's rights and ultimately provide conservatives across the country with some "lawful ammunition" to challenge the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling that made abortions legal in the United States.
The ballot initiative is part of a national campaign sponsored by the conservative Colorado-based organization, "Personhood USA". The pro-life organization describes itself as a nonprofit Christian ministry that "serves the pro-life community by assisting local groups to initiate citizen, legislative, and political action focusing on the ultimate goal of the pro-life movement: personhood rights for all innocent humans."
Mississippi is the only state in the country voting on a "personhood" initiative this year, however, similar amendments that "define" what constitutes a human being have previously gone on ballots in several other states but were soundly defeated by wide margins of votes. Currently, personhood measures are being planned for next year in Florida, Montanaand Ohio, according to Personhood USA supporters.
Prior to the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling that gave women the right to have legal control over their own body, thousands of women lost their life every year from infections and from literally bleeding to death as a result of obtaining illegal "back room" abortions that were performed by butchers that pretended to be surgeons. It would be gravely naive to believe that women who are faced with unwanted pregnancies for a multitude of reasons will stop having abortions.
Every Mississippian / American that professes to love freedom and believes in New Hampshire's motto of "Live free or die", should defiantly ask aloud, "how can any political organization whose platform is built largely on personal liberty and non intrusive government, mandate via laws created predominately by men, what a woman can / cannot do with her own body?"
Is it so improbable to believe that "Personhood USA" and similar conservative organizations aren't already contemplating initiating pseudo religious / political laws that will make vasectomies and the selling of condoms illegal?
In closing, should any form of government have the legal authority to tell an adult what they can and cannot do with their own body in terms of human reproduction? What's next, a government controlled quota of babies born in accordance to race and social economic status?
Today the polls are open for voting in Mississippion on this very divisive topic and rest assure Governor Barbour, Americans from all across the United States are watching. Mississippians, please choose wisely.
As always, The New Orleans Examiner is always interested in what you think. Is Mississippi's "Initiative 26" a "Big Government" amendment that's designed by Neo Puritans à la George Orwell's novel "1984" as a tool to prevent women from being masters of their own destiny?
Additionally, are speeches made by conservative politicians that vociferously condemn "Big Government" in actuality speeches that are intended to lure and confuse the "less informed" into believing that conservative right-wing ideology promotes and embodies the Granite State's motto of "Live free or die"? Inquiring minds want to know. Sound off.
Until next time Louisianans, Good day, God Bless and Good Fishing.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/08/us/mississippi-personhood-amendment/index.html
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