PLEASE RECOMMEND! No one seems to know about this!
On Thursday, I drove into Jackson Mississippi to lend my voice to a protest against the latest assault on women's rights in Mississippi, SB 2922. The state Senate offered 2922 back in January, and it originally required a woman terminating a pregnancy to be offered the option of viewing a sonogram or listening to the fetal heartbeat prior to abortion. The Senate called this an extension of Mississippi's (already draconian) "informed consent" statute. I, for one, would argue that it violates Casey by placing an undue burden on the woman, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The House got a hold of this bill, and, seeing what was done in South Dakota, suddenly grew a gigantic pair of artificial
cojones. They decided they would just ban abortion outright by changing the bill and sending it back to the Senate. They have, at least, made some exceptions for rape and incest, although they have qualified these exceptions with unreasonable restrictions on reporting. They require a woman to have reported the incident within twenty days in order to receive an abortion, which any victim of rape or incest will tell you is so unconscionable as to be almost laughable. The Senate is attempting to haggle and get back to it's original unreasonable position, instead of this new one.
Now, we aren't sure if this strategy is an attempt to call the Senate's bluff (you won't pass a bill that you know will die in the courts, you barstards), and thereby get rid of the stupid sonogram thingy, or if they mean it and really are the knuckledragging mouthbreathers that everyone outside of the south assumes them to be. Obviously, we rather hope it is the former, but we understandably have our doubts here in the liberal outposts of the state. Mississippi democrats, you see, consistently declare themselves to be a party of "life". So, instead of crossing our fingers and hoping, many of us gather at the Capitol and fight, yea, even when our cause seems like a lost one.
We understood that the conference committee would take place at nine Thursday morning, so I showed up and spoke to Senator Nunnelee's secretary. She informed me that it had been postponed until after lunch. I returned at the appointed time, to find that it had been moved back from one thirty to one forty-five, and had furthermore switched rooms. Several of the conferees met, but not all, as this had to be squeezed in between several other committees. It was determined that we would meet again, in the original location, at four o'clock.
There are three senators, Nunnelee, Hyde-Smith, and Frazier, on this committee. After an altercation with the House committeemen at four yesterday, we were grudgingly allowed to present testimony to the senators, once the House members had walked out. I say grudgingly, because it is quite clear that none of these Senators is likely to be on our side. Senator Nunnelee chose two topics on which we were to be allowed to testify, and allowed the anti-choice faction to have their say first. This, he said, was because they had contacted him, and we had not(!) The topics he allowed presentation on were a) How abortion harms women, and b) testimony on existing informed consent laws in Mississippi.
You must understand our plight here in the south. The anti-choice movement is very strong, very well funded, and has been around for a very long time. They have connections, and are made up mostly of white, upper-middle class to wealthy women. Most of them are approaching middle age, or older. We on the other side are young, inexperienced, virtually unfunded, and alone. We pine for the ears of a politician, of the media, of anyone, but to no avail.
The anti-choice faction was well prepared, each with her own pre-written statement (many of them remarkably similar) to the effect of their terrible emotional suffering after their abortion, and the horrible de-humanizing experience of the procedure. A couple spoke of the pain experienced during the surgery, but for the most part, it was emotional outpouring of the "O woe is me, My child is slain by my hand" variety. I felt like I was watching a Greek tragedy.
I butted in during their part, as I was too furious to contain myself. I was soberly dressed in my Ann Taylor special, so I'm sure I fooled quite a few with my appearance. The illusion was perpetuated through my opening statements, so I imagine some were surprised when I blew it apart. My abortion was a devastating experiance for me. I was pregnant with my first child by the love of my life. I have had Hepatitic C since birth, passed on from my mother, and, at the time of my pregnancy, was also experiencing severe kidney problems. I was informed by my doctor that carrying my child to term would be very dangerous, perhaps fatal, and would require sacrificing all mobility from the fifth month on. It was also inevetible that I would pass an incurable infectious disease to my child, as my mom had done to me. Unlike my mother, I would be fully aware that I was doing this. Surrendering bitterly to logic and my own intelligence and, yes, compassion, I decided to terminate.
From the moment of the decision, I grieved. My family supported me, my husband supported me, my friends supported me, and I feel such pity for all of those women whose society is more narrow than mine was. I wavered back and forth, saying, "I'll do it, but no, maybe I can do this," for weeks, before finally giving in. I had decided before doing the procedure that I didn't need the strong anaesthetic, but changed my mind at the last minute, sending my husband to the ATM across the street so I would be as out-of-it as possible, so my heart would be deadened, as well as my mind, when I did what I knew was the right thing.
If I had viewed a sonogram, or listened to a heartbeat, that would have been the death of my determination, life and health be damned! My decision was so difficult already that any further knowledge of the thing inside me would have placed upon me that undue burden which Casey is intended to guard against.
During the procedure, I cried softly, while the nurse rubbed my hand and cried with me, and the doctor hugged me when I left the room, saying that the relief I did not feel now would come.
Over the next weeks, I didn't believe him. I wanted children so badly, and wondered, now, if I could ever have them. I felt so small, and I felt like everyone was staring at me. But slowly, as the fifth month of what would have been my pregnancy approached, my grief dissapated, and relief replaced it. I was healthy, I could work. My relationships were stronger that ever before, and I was able to pursue things in my life that I would never have been able to pursue with a small child in tow. Like other women, I still get those flashes of agony when I see a child and think "My baby would be six now." But that pain is tempered by the realization that I am far more capable, now, of being a mother. If I had had my child then, both my child and I would have been very ill, and I would have lacked the financial, physical, social, and emotional resources to raise that child in the best possible way. My relationship with my husband would have been submitted to unnecessary strain, and he would have been miserable, trapped by the responsibility of providing for a family in a situation he could not abide. So now, I rejoice every day in my wise decision to terminate my pregnancy, and I bless every day the names of the women who secured that right for me and mine, and I will fight tooth and nail and claw to the death if necessary to preserve that choice for my sisters and children, and for every woman on this green earth.
And any woman who, having made that choice for herself, seeks to deny it to another woman, I denounce as evil and immoral in the extreme. Whether she was young and silly, or poor and desparate, or in an affair and at her wits end, she made her choice. So her husband threatened divorce, or her boyfriend threatened a beating? Her mother threatened to kick her out? It was her choice, at the end of the day, her signature on that paper, whether she was threatened or bribed or persuaded or tricked. She had that choice! Contrary to what the good Doctor claims in Candide, all is not for the best in this best of all possible worlds, and we must all suffer. It is not for me to choose what form anothers' suffering takes, and it is not for others to decide that my suffering must take the form of a child that I do not want or cannot raise. Perhaps my suffering will, indeed, take a form similar that of the women who gave testimony before the Senators on the 2922 committee, and show itself as regret over my abortion. But it is for me to choose that path, that decision is MINE. To deny it to me is hipocrisy.
Remember that, all you supposedly "pro-life" fools who seek to take away other women's self-determination, thinking that you, somehow, because you have spoken to a bunch of prats and found Jesus, know better than we do what is good for ourselves - you are hypocrites.
Okay, now that that bit of my rant is done, I'll give the best part, shall I? It was the women, the beautiful wonderful progressive women that came together in solidarity to oppose this nonsense. Women from the ACLU, from NOW, from CAN, from Mississippi! Victims of rape, of incest, women who have had abortoins, yankees, transplants, clergy, doctors, old, young, black, white, asian, other, even men! Whoohoo! We had some men on our side! The press actually showed up, first in the person of the London Observer. Shock me! Yeah, I know, what the hell were they doing in Mississippi? But ok, the more the merrier. The only local I saw was a lady from the Clarion-Ledger that evening at the ACLU office (I guess local Mississippi papers don't care until after this nonsense goes down), although certain of our number (a lovely lady from prochoicemississippi) were interviewed by a French paper, which you must forgive me for forgetting the name of.
The deadline for this mess is on Monday evening, so it may eventually go to the full committee. Holland, the chair of the House portion (other members are Moak and Fredericks), has refused to approve the Senate bill, so the vote will be on the ban. We need two nays, or two refusals. So do your best. Call the attorney general - tell him this bill will be fought, and the funds to pay for defending it will come from the coffers of the taxpayers of the State of Mississiappi. These funds can be better used to pay for Katrina recovery, education, transportion, etc. Call the folks on the committee, especially the House members and pound the economic part. This bill is going to fail when it gets to the supreme court. It's a waste of money. We don't even have to go into the absolute, barborous stupidity of it. But you can if you want to.
While you're at it, join the ACLU, join NOW, petition NARAL to get some people here, join Planned Parenthood, the Campus Action Network, donate some cash, some time, some knowledge, whatever you've got. Say a prayer, sacrifice a goat, or just send some flowers to some of the ladies who have worked so hard on this issue for all of us. Do your thing, because this isn't about religion and it isn't about race and it isn't about uppity women, it is about civil rights and common sense. After Monday, whether this goes our way or not, the fight goes on. Join us. The movement continues, and freedom is our only goal.
Next Tuesday, Mississippi may be the next state to have banned Roe v. Wade. Please don't let this happen, don't let this go down without a fight. The women of Mississippi beg you.
UPDATE: I don't know how much good people from out of state will do, but I invite anyone who wants to help to contact the attorney general, stressing particularly the economic difficulties of a bill like this being defended in court on the state's dime while the state is begging for Katrina money, or something of the sort.You guys know how to do it. Here's Jim Hood's info - flood him.
MS Attorney General's Office
P.O. Box 220
Jackson, MS 39205
MS Attorney General's Office
Carroll Gartin Justice Building
450 High Street
Jackson, MS 39201
Telephone: 601-359-3680
Email: msag05@ago.state.ms.us
Webmaster: mshir@ago.state.ms.us
Hillman Terome Frazier is a Democrat, and our biggest problem with him is the religion aspect. I recommend the economy tack with him as well. His number at the Capitol is (601) 359-3233 and his E-mail address is hfrazier@mail.senate.state.ms.us.
Cindy Hyde-Smith is a Republican and a Baptist, and pretty much a no-go, but give her hell at (601) 359-3246 or chydesmith@mail.senate.state.ms.us.
Nunnelee is also a Republican. His phone number at the Capitol is (601) 359-3234 and his email is anunnelee@mail.senate.state.ms.us.
As far as the House goes, Representative Fredericks is our girl. Give her a shout out at (601) 359-2429, or send her some flowers - she deserves them. She's our only sure and certain vote.
Representative Holland can be reached at (601) 359-3320. He's a democrat, but we're still up in the air on his intentions.
Representative Moak's number is (601) 359-2860, and he actually has email, apparently a rare thing among mere representatives here. Send him some internet persuasion at bmoak@mail.house.state.ms.us, or bmoak@locnet.net.
I would mostly stick with the "wasting Katrina dollars" meme, for out-of towners. It's the issue most likely to hit a sore point, and the issue most likely to be useful as a scapegoat for our pro-choice democratic House members.
If you just want to donate, the best place is the
Mississippi ACLU (their Reproductive Freedom Coordinator, Shawna Davies, is fantastic) or the link I posted above, prochoice mississpi.
Thanks y'all. 'Preciate you.