Tag Archives: mississippi

Coat Hanger Abortions? No Biggie!

Jessica WakemanMay 16, 2012 //
  • Here’s a lovely comment on the value of a woman’s life from Republican Mississippi State Represenative Bubba Carpenter. In a video filmed a county GOP meeting, Rep. Carpenter is heard saying (emphasis mine), “You have [pro-choice supporters] … like, ‘Well, the poor pitiful women that can’t afford to go out of state are just going to start doing them at home with a coat hanger.’ That’s what we’ve heard over and over and over. But hey, you have to have moral values. You have to start somewhere, and that’s what we’ve decided to do.” Women permanently injuring themselves or even dying from unsafe, illegal coat hanger abortions, just like in the good ol’ days? Hey, no biggie! [Huffington Post]
  • Human Rights Watch says immigrant female farmworkers are suffering through sex abuse rather than standing up for themselves and possibly facing deportation. [Washington Post]
  • When so-called “men’s rights activists” are happy with the Republicans’ version of the Violence Against Women Act, you know we’ve got problems. [Think Progress] Keep reading »

Mississippi’s “Fetal Personhood” Amendment Fails

Jessica WakemanNovember 9, 2011 //
A Fetus Is A Person?
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Mississippi wanted to define a "person" as a fetus at conception. Read More »
Mississippi Votes
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What are the anti-abortion ballot measures in Mississippi? Read More »
Abortion Lies
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CPCs scolded for misleading women about abortion. Read More »
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That’s a relief.

Mississippi voters failed to pass an anti-abortion “fetal personhood” amendment, which would have defined the beginning of life at conception and therefore criminalized all abortions — including those resulting from rape or incest. Initiative 26, as the ballot measure was known as, also would have criminalized IVF treatments and some forms of birth control because they both involve fertilized eggs. If it had passed, MS would have had the strictest restrictions against abortion in the country. Keep reading »

Mississippi To Vote On Fetal Personhood Amendment Which Would Outlaw Birth Control And IVF

Jessica WakemanNovember 7, 2011 //
Abortion Lies
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CPCs scolded for misleading women about abortion. Read More »
Black People Targeted
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New anti-abortion billboards are targeting black people. Read More »
"Fetal Pain" Law
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An Idaho woman challenged the state's anti-abortion "fetal pain" law. Read More »
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Tomorrow, Election Day, voters in Mississippi will vote on a fetal personhood amendment to define a fetus as a person in the state constitution, thereby criminalizing all abortion. Initiative 26 would define a “person” as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.” If it passes, surgical abortions would be banned, the abortion pill would be banned, and, according to a Personhood USA spokesman who spoke to NPR, even birth control pills would be banned. Keep reading »

“The Help” Trailer Is Out!

Jessica WakemanApril 19, 2011 //


The Help by Kathryn Stockett was one of my favorite books of 2010 — and millions of other readers agree. This summer, “The Help” hits the big screen, starring Emma Stone as Skeeter, a white recent college graduate writing for the local newspaper in her Mississippi town, and Viola Davis (“Doubt”) as Aibileen, a black maid who works for one of Skeeter’s friends. Skeeter comes home from college to find all the friends she grew up with are married with children and employers to black “help,” who are second-class citizens in 1960′s Jackson, Mississippi. The story follows Skeeter as she interviews Aibileen and other black maids for a secret book project that exposes the ugly day-to-day racism in Jackson’s domestic life to the rest of the world. While I was originally unconvinced that teen sex comedy queen Emma Stone was the right casting for the role of Skeeter, judging by the trailer for “The Help,” she carries it off with just the right amount of sass and spunk. [AOL via ONTD] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal, Say 46 Percent In Mississippi Poll

Jessica WakemanApril 8, 2011 //
  • Interracial marriage should be illegal according to nearly half of Republicans polled in Mississippi. That’s the finding of a small poll of 400 people by Public Policy Polling (PDF). Forty-six percent of “hardcore Republicans” polled said interracial marriage should not be allowed by law. Is it any consolation that 40 percent of “hardcore Republicans” said interracial marriage should be kept legal? Not much. (To be fair, some say Public Policy Polling is liberal-slanted. However, The Economist magazine claims the pollsters are accurate regardless of a slant.) [The Economist] (Thanks to commenter LR52185 for the story!)
  • Defense contractor KBR was named one of the “top firms for women” by Women Engineer magazine, despite the 2005 scandal where employee Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged, raped and then locked in a storage container by her bosses. It boggles the mind. [Mother Jones]
  • Anyone else notice all the women of color contestants have been voted off “American Idol”? [AlterNet]

Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Mississippi Will Vote On Abortion Ban In 2011

Jessica WakemanApril 1, 2010 //
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  • Mississippi voters will mull a proposed ban on abortions in their 2011 election, since abortion opponents collected enough signatures to put the proposal on the ballot. [AP]
  • Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion extremist and the murderer of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, is to be sentenced today. Dr. Tiller was one of the few late-term abortion providers in the nation. [Reuters]
  • American University’s student newspaper, the Eagle, has said it will apologize for running a column by 20-year-old student Alex Knepper, who took issue with women who say they are date raped. Activists have called Knepper and the student paper “date rape apologists” after he wrote that a woman who goes to a frat party, has five drinks, and goes back to a man’s room “is indicating that she wants sex” and should not “cry ‘date rape’” the next day. [Washington Post]

    • Keep reading »