JONATHAN CHAIT SEPTEMBER 8, 2011
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[Guest Post by Simon van Zuylen-Wood]
On November 8 Mississippians will vote by popular referendum to legally define the beginning of a person’s life “at conception.” Until now, there was a reasonable doubt that the pro-life-backed “personhood amendment” would never make it to the ballot, since Mississippi law forbids amending the state constitution by voter initiative. But today, hours before Mike Huckabee and Deanna (wife of Brett) Favre headline a pro-personhood rally in Jackson, the state Supreme Court ruled the amendment would appear on this year’s ballot.
For more on the personhood movement, see my recent article in TNR.
8 comments
Mississippi is the bellwether state of reactionary politics.
- liberalref
September 8, 2011 at 7:31pm
How is this going to work? Is every fetus going to get a Social Security number and a Conception certificate? Will people have to register every time they have sex so we can know the date to put on the Conception certificate? If a woman has a cigarette after sex, can she be charged with child abuse? Does this mean babies conceived in America are US citizens, makes me wonder since my last son was conceived in Mexico but born in America. Is he a dual citizen? Will he be deported to Mexico? And my last question. Why the fuck would anyone want to live in Mississippi?
- blackton
September 8, 2011 at 7:46pm
And just to be clear, I am pro-life, but this is just batshit insanity, it is playing games with the law, moreso it is making a mockery of it. You want to treat a fetus like a person Mississippi? Then how about making sure every woman has the right to pre-natal care, that contraception is freely available to all who ask to prevent unwanted pregnancies, that after the children are born they all have health insurance and decent schools and good nutrition. Otherwise you are just self-righteous assholes who should all go off and fuck yoursves
- blackton
September 8, 2011 at 7:50pm
Glad to see you back Lib! Thought you left us for good. I was thinking like you Blackie. Here's a few I considered: - if a woman drinks and is pregnant, she's now giving alcohol to a minor, which is illegal and can now be charged with delinquency of a minor - the state can now be sued if they don't provide a basic level of support to TWO indigent/poor people if the woman is pregnant instead of one (that will be fun to watch in a state with a huge teen pregnancy problem) - the state income tax in MS will see a big drop in collections since you now get an extra deduction - if you're not allowed an extra deduction due to the unborn child, expect a lawsuit I'm expecting unintended lawsuits and a legal mess. Pass the popcorn.
- tmmats
September 8, 2011 at 8:28pm
"that after the children are born they all have health insurance and decent schools and good nutrition." You hit the nail on the head: the wingers love the unborn, they hate you and want you to crawl in a hole and die after you're born if you're not rich.
- tmmats
September 8, 2011 at 8:29pm
So my question is, how are they going to amend the State Constitution by initiative, without violating the restriction on amending the State Constitution by initiative? The answer has to be that this is going to be thrown out in courts, and fairly soon. Letting this initiative go forward despite this obvious problem does two things: (1) bring Republican voters to the polls in droves, (2) gets them riled up again when it is tossed out. Although I do like Blackton's idea of forcing Mississippi to live with all the unintended consequences!
- JEFF FREY
September 9, 2011 at 1:31am
"- if you're not allowed an extra deduction due to the unborn child, expect a lawsuit" Abso-fucking-lutely! It'll be Scopes Monkey all over again. In the networked age.
- ironyroad
September 9, 2011 at 2:26am
Great points, as usual, Blackton. It occurs to me the unborn person will have all the rights their parents' money can afford, just like if they were born. The wealthy are just trying to protect their supply of peasants and slaves.
- GSpinks
September 9, 2011 at 12:18pm