As I sit here waiting for word from Mississippi...I am a mix of emotions.  I am anxious, scared, hopeless, angry and determined.  The idea that a group of men think they have the right to control my womb - is insulting, degrading and infuriating.  I realize this vote is only binding in Mississippi - but don't think for one second that these "Personhood" groups will stop there.  They are an insidious outgrowth of the anti-abortion fringe.  Their goal - to make women slaves to their reproductive capacity.

I CONTROL MY UTERUS - NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

It is patently ridiculous that in a state as poverty stricken as Mississippi that this would even been thought about! What they need is more sex ed, more use of birth control and more assistance for the families stuck in the cycle of poverty.  Their infant and maternal mortality rates are a joke, yet every woman should have to carry any egg is fertilized to term, or die trying.

Let's be perfectly clear - those of the Personhood movement, those of the anti-abortion movement - could care less about the poor, the disadvantaged, the handicapped - because well, they aren't politically divisive.  These types of issues are nothing more than a rallying cry for their base, so that while doing all these things - they can get their ultra right-wing, uber-pro-business-at-all-costs-corporations-are-people candidates elected. Think about it - if it was geniunely a concern for human life - why would they be working against health care reform, against public education, hell - even some of the "pro-life" people are anti-pell grant! 

I fear that if *we* (I mean all women) lose in Mississippi - we are on the way to losing elsewhere. I am not trying to be alarmist - but the consequences really are that dire. All I can say is that until doctors will perform hysterectomies on demand - they will pry my birth control pills out of my cold, dead hands. 

EDITED TO ADD: YAY! The Amendment Failed!  The voice of reason and the rights of women won this round - but make no mistake - the war rages on. 
To those that might find this post from the state of Mississippi - reach out to the legislators that supported this amendment. Ask them what they plan to do about infant and maternal mortality, the high rates of teen pregnancy, the high rates of STDs - the cycle of poverty that is eating at your state.  Don't let them off the hook!

The state of Mississippi is set to vote November 8th on an amendment to their state Constitution - that says "life" begins at conception.  A fertilized egg - according to this amendment - has just as many rights as the breathing, thinking, walking, talking, feeling woman that carries it.  It would outlaw abortion in nearly every case - it would have effects on the current practices of IVF - it would halt any chance of stem cell research in the state and it would outlaw most forms of hormonal birth control.

Let that sink in for a second.

Women would be very limited on preventing pregnancy, would have no way to legally terminate an unwanted pregnancy and would basically be a slave to their uterus and the wills of ultra-conservative control freaks. 

Without the basic right to control reproduction - women will never be equal in society. 

There has been an onslaught of anti-women health care bills passed, but the truth is - many woman have been subjected to this kind of discriminatory treatment from the time they reached child-bearing age.  Many doctors base important decisions on preserving a pregnancy or a woman's fertility.  However - that isn't always in the woman's best interest or even what she wants.  I, for example, was told by a doctor that she wouldn't approve a hysterectomy because I am under an arbitrary age guideline and have no children - not because my symptoms didn't yet warrant it.  THIS IS NOT RARE!
In a case here in Wichita a few years back - a pregnant woman goes to the doctor for a pain in her side - four months later she is dead.  From the article: "Heather seemed to have morning sickness all the time.
In March, about three months into her pregnancy, she went to a doctor because of a pain in her side. That led to lesions being found on her liver. For the welfare of the fetus, the doctor decided to wait until the baby was born before investigating further."  Unless this woman was adequately informed, unless she agreed to wait for treatment - this doctor should have been brought up on criminal charges or at the very least sued into oblivion.
But this happens all the time.

This is what I wish people would understand:
1) Women are more than the contents of their uterus.
2) Women have the right to determine what resides in their bodies.
3) The "Right to Life" of a woman takes precedence over the rights of a potential life residing in her body - until SHE decides it doesn't

THE FIGHT FOR ACCURATE, HONEST, PRO-WOMAN HEALTHCARE BEGINS WITH YOU!