To Mississippi: "No on 26" Video Rejects Phony "Personhood" Measure

Mississippi, like other states before it, is being plagued with a vote on a ridiculous "Personhood" amendment that would give constitutional rights to a fertilized egg inside a woman's uterus.

Yes, that's right. Birth control, abortion, in vitro fertilization -- all could be considered murder if the people of the state were hoodwinked into supporting Initiative 26. It deserves a BIG NO, and that's the point of a 4.26 minute video released on YouTube by "Parents Against MS 26." The vote is November 8, 2011.



The beautiful idea in this video is its portraits of the women who will be harmed by the legislation -- picturing them as young girls, and then as teens, young women, and on. Each has a reason for opposing Initiative 26, and holds up a sign at the end to that effect. The real joy, however, is how it gives a three-dimensional view of the women with the wordless pictures of them, and the fascination of watching each woman mature in photos before our eyes. The tag line and title say "Trust Families," but the reality that comes through is "Trust Women" -- and this is who they are.

As a text accompanying it says, "We’re real Mississippi mothers, and these are our real experiences. These are our families, and these are our stories, and these are our reasons for voting NO. We ask that you join us in voting NO ON 26 on November 8."

Women's stories are also posted online.

This devious personhood measure -- which the anti-choice sponsors describe as against "abortion and cloning" (absurd!) -- has been rejected in several other states, either by legislatures or at the ballot box -- in South Dakota, in Colorado, elsewhere. And it has been rejected for very good reasons -- it could ban abortion and birth control.

It's so extreme that even the Episcopal Bishop on Mississippi opposes it, issuing a statement that said,

"The legal nightmares arising from this legislation are also very real. The word 'person' is used over 9,400 times in the Mississippi Annotated Code and the implications for mass confusion and decades of legal challenges over every use of the term are staggering.

For their own reasons, Roman Catholic bishops in several states, including Mississippi, have said they could not support this particular legislation."

Watch this video for its educational value, its quiet artistry, and, most importantly, SHARE IT and the link -- http://youtu.be/r_Cfi8cf9co -- with any voter in Mississippi. Ask Mississippi to stand up to those who attempt to pervert the system to take away the rights of good women, good men and good families with trash-can laws like the personhood amendment.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Above: Trust Families video

"Like" us on Facebook here.

Subscribe in a reader

Graphic Journalist Susie Cagle Shows Crisis Pregancy Center Hypocrisy: Cutting Through Muck With Drawings & Text

California-based graphic journalist Susie Cagle has done a tremendous job of showing the truth about Crisis Pregnancy Centers in a 17-page online journal, called "What Every Woman Should Know."

The full piece is carried in On The Issues Magazine in its edition on "Activism." One page, for example, says, "It may have some of the trappings, but First Resort is not a doctor's office...It is at the quiet front of the war on women's health as part of a huge and growing network of faith-based anti-abortion 'crisis pregnancy centers' that hand out more misleading health info than Planned Parenthood does condoms."

Cagle manages to consolidate and illustrate wide-ranging and up-to-the-minute information about abortion, politics, and the anti-abortion outposts. She says that she first encountered a Crisis Pregnancy Center when seeking an abortion in New York four years ago. To create her graphic journalism piece, she visited nine crisis pregnancy centers in the Bay Area, presenting herself as a patient. She settled on illustrating three run by "First Resort" to explain the nefariousness of the crisis pregnancy movement, especially in a generally pro-choice community like San Francisco-Oakland.

Others have written about crisis pregnancy centers, including an excellent article just appearing in the New York Times by Katie Stack . And the group CPC Watch, does important regular posting on crisis pregnancy lies, plans counter actions, and sells cool items online. But it's Cagle who has managed to capture the entirety of the experience and the problem through concentrated creativity in words and graphics. Her final product is specifically designed for online publication, and should be tagged by every pro-choice site.

Her conclusion is worth understanding, too. In a blog post, she notes that the people at the centers were kind and seemed to be understanding, even as they handed out reams of false information.

"I think some people expected this story to reveal some sort of gory, appalling details, the blood beneath the floorboards. For me, this version of reality is much more scary -- false information delivered with a smile, affirmations of choice that hide aspirations to dissuade, prevent and sabotage."

Great great work by Cagle. If you only have time to read ONE thing on crisis pregnancy centers, this should be it! Send it to roommates, students, those who are likely to be ensnared. And if you want to learn graphic artistry, Cagle is the model for you.

Cagle, also the founder of Graphic Journos, can be found via her website, This Is What Concerns Me.

Posted by Cindy Cooper
Pictured above, screen shot, 'What Every Woman Should Know' by Susie Cagle


"Like" us on Facebook here.

Subscribe in a reader