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Tuesday, November 08, 2011

WTF Mississippi?

Okay, so today's vote in Mississippi hearkens back to the ol' "when life begins" issue. And they're proposing that life begins at fertilization.

Fertilization, people.

Do you comprehend the ramifications of this?! Well, let's be clear. If life begins at fertilization, at the very moment that sperm meets egg and an embryo is formed, then it means the following:

Women who are raped, and subsequently become pregnant from that attack cannot have an abortion.

Women who are pregnant and discover at some point that the pregnancy is not viable outside the uterus, cannot have an abortion. If they do, they will be charged with murder.

Couples like me and Hubby, who undergo IVF (or any ART), will not be able to discard any embryos... regardless of viability.

If a woman becomes pregnant and then loses the baby, even a chemical pregnancy... then she will be committing murder. (So I had three embryos transferred into me, and only one child resulted. Does that mean I murdered two of them because they did not implant?! Come on...)

A woman who is pregnant who develops a life-threatening condition because of the pregnancy will not be permitted to terminate; it will be committing murder.

I wonder if it would mean that anyone who undergoes IVF in Mississippi would have to have all embryos transferred... if for example, freezing an embryo would not be permitted? Scary thoughts. (Can you say Octo-Mom?)

What would happen in the case of an ectopic pregnancy? Because if you leave an ectopic pregnancy to develop, it can very well result both baby and mother's death. Yet under this law, removing an ectopic pregnancy would be murder too. That simply doesn't make sense. At all.

Do you see the slippery slope here? I believe, like so many others, that women/couples can determine when it is the right time to have a baby, and when it is not. (Mind you, that implies some sort of level of sanity and recognition of your own particular situation and ability to raise said child.) And I believe that Mississippi should stay out of the bedrooms of its citizens.

Say NO to Mississipi's Proposition 26 today. Vote with your sensibilities. Don't be damn stupid. I have to believe that people in Mississippi have a grain of sense and will shoot this one down.

1 comment:

Paula said...

Ugh. I am in Mississippi, and I do not share your optimism that people will vote this down, though I certainly hope it's defeated. It's been boiled down to mostly an abortion thing here, without regard to the other possible implications--the mother's life, rape and incest, assisted reproduction. Unfortunately I think the people who pushed the initiative were right when they figured the citizens of Mississippi were just gullible enough to vote for this.