DISCLAIMER: This is long!

There is a scene in the movie Anapolis where the main character is apologizing to his roommate for not performing very well at the Academy. He's afraid that since he's getting all sorts of attention for being terrible, that attention will fall onto his roommate as well, and he just can't understand why this guy would want to still be his roommate. The roommate stops him and this exchange takes place:

Since Jason and I first got together, he's had a lot of fun calling me his Mississippi. He's so witty, that boy.

But it's true - Mississippi has some pretty awful statistics. 

In 2010, Mississippi was the country's fattest state for the 6th straight year and Mississippi was #6 for the highest rate of teen pregnancy. Mississippi has consistently ranked among the worst for literacy as well. This is very sad, but very true.

However, to say that I'm proud of Mississippi is a huge understatement. It's rare that someone doesn't know that I'm from Mississippi after they meet me once or twice. I brag all the time. I love my home state, and I love the people that she has produced. 

This bill, Proposition 26, however, is upsetting me.

Now here's why I'm upset about an anti-abortion bill when I'm so adamantly pro-life:

Proposition 26 seeks to define personhood. It seeks to make Mississippi's constitution read that a person is a person, and has legal rights, from the time of fertilization. Read that again - fertilization, not just implantation. That means that the moment sperm enters the egg, a person with legal rights has come into being. Regardless of the fact that 40% of the time, that egg is never even reaches the fetus stage. Proposition 26 states that since a person has then been created, that person has rights. Such as the right to not be aborted.  

Now I'll stop and explain why this is a bad thing in my opinion. 

And here's the big one for me:

We were so blessed that KB was at a stage of development that she was perfectly healthy at 32 weeks, not just viable. But what if, God forbid, she had not been? Would my doctor have been a criminal for delivering her, even though it literally saved my life? Would I have been forced to endure a court trial after losing my precious baby?

While these scenarios are not specifically listed in Proposition 26, and are in fact, being argued against now, they could happen. These are the types of things that could take place further down the road as a result of Proposition 26 being passed. 

So to my Mississippi readers I say, this is not JUST an anti-abortion bill. Please read up on it, and do your research before you hit the polls next month. Think about your future children and grandchildren, and what you may be causing them to suffer if you vote "yes".  This bill is just one more thing that could make Mississippi suffer in polls with unfavorable statistics.

Credit:

I found a great site that lists out  most of the arguments for and against Proposition 26, in case anyone would like to read it. It's also where I got most of what I wrote.