Mississippi Abortion Ban Dies in Committee! Legislative Session Ends!!!

[Maddy McCall]

Mississippi lawmakers left Jackson shortly after 1 p.m., ending a lively 2006 session.

"There's a time to plant and there's a time to reap," said House Speaker Billy McCoy. "We don't think further resolve can come. There's always a time to shut her down, and that time is now."

In the three-month session, a $4.5 billion budget was approved, along with pay raises for state workers and college professors.

Measure that could not pass both chambers included a ban on abortions, limiting government's ability to condemn property and a tax swap to raise the tax on cigarettes and lower the tax on groceries.

A last-minute effort to pass $22 million in bonds for access roads to Chevron's Pascagoula plant also failed to gain support during the final day of debate.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060331/NEWS/60331009

________________________________________

YES! Mississippi's women will have choice at least for another year! Thanks to our five legislative stonewallers for refusing to negotiate women's rights away! Thanks to DUers who contacted them!

:woohoo:

[EFerrari]

1. That's great news, Maddy! Thanks, I needed that.!

:)

[CottonBear]

2. Thnak goodness! That is great news! Good for Mississippi!

:woohoo:

These days, Mississippi is postively progressive compared to Georgia.
Our dumbass GOP GA legislators are ruining our once most progressive of Southern states. :( :cry:

[Bake]

3. As a Mississippian, that's great!

Also, I believe, a bill that would have outlawed breast feeding in public places died in committee ...

Bake

[Maddy McCall]

4. Yes, it did!

One reason is that there are many women in Mississippi breastfeeding now, and they made it be known that they opposed the ban.

Hi, bake! :hi:

[Bake]

7. Hi Maddy!

I've appreciated your posts on the state of things on the coast. (I'm up the street from the Governor.) Hope things are getting better for you! As for me, I've not ventured too far south of Jackson since Katrina.

Like you, I was aghast at the abortion bill here. So glad it failed (gridlock can be a good thing!).

Bake

[Maddy McCall]

17. Hey, you know that I don't live on the coast, doncha?

I'm down I-55 about 85 miles south of you! :hi:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Congratulations to Mississippi!

Great news! :woohoo:

[annofark]

6. Thank God

Good Riddance

[newyawker99]

22. Hi annofark!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Odin2005]

8. Cue the Vonage theme!

:woohoo:

[Maddy McCall]

18. LOL! My son has that song on his MP3 player...It's from Kill Bill...

The band is "The 5678s."

They're a crazy girl band from Japan:

[Tsiyu]

9. Awesome news

We've got another year to get ready for them...


:bounce:

[ceile]

10. YES! n/t

[VelmaD]

11. W00t!!!

:woohoo:

[myrna minx]

12. Way to go Mississippi!

:bounce:

[DanCa]

13. Way to go Missippi

I hope this bodes well for Missippi Democrats in 2006.

[Nikki Stone1]

14. GREAT!! But, sorry to hear that a tax reduction on groceries didn't pass

Have to revisit that grocery thing next legislative session...

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. YAY! That's wonderful news!

:woohoo:

[ThomCat]

16. Cool.

Sometimes, just sometimes, good things happen.

[Catherine Vincent]

19. I don't like abortions, so I won't have one.

But this is good news because it's not the government's business to ban a procedure that is a choice.

[Breeze54]

20. This was a smart move for them, this being an election year!!

http://www.sos.state.ms.us/elections/2006/

Mississippi already requires a 24-hour waiting period and counseling for all
abortions, plus the consent of both parents for minors who seek the procedure.
The state has one abortion clinic, in Jackson.

Mississippi women don't have THAT much choice!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://gynpages.com/jwho/
Urgent help is needed to save the only remaining women's health clinic in Mississippi
that provides abortions. Anti-abortion extremists have vowed to shut down the Jackson
Women's Health Organization ö the sole provider of abortions in Mississippi.
For ten years with the Feminist Majority Foundation's help this clinic has withstood
every other challenge, from threats by anti-abortion protesters to punitive restrictions
imposed by state lawmakers. We simply cannot let anti-abortion protesters get away with
denying these vital healthcare services to women in Mississippi.

With one of the highest poverty rates in the country, the situation for women couldn't be worse.

The state has the highest teen birthrate in the country, and one of the highest
infant-mortality rates. Right now, only days after the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade,
the Jackson Women's Health Organization is featured in the press,
including Newsweek and The Nation. While the eyes of the world are on Mississippi,
we must act to make sure the Jackson Women's Health Organization remains open and serving
the women in Mississippi. Half of your emergency contribution will support the FMF National
Clinic Access Project's work with federal, state, and local law enforcement, community
leaders and the Jackson clinic to counter the protesters and prevent deadly attacks.
And the other half of your emergency contribution will be put into a special fund created
by the Jackson Women's Health Organization to help poor women in Mississippi
obtain abortions. This is not the first time your Feminist Majority Foundation has worked
to keep abortion clinics open in Mississippi.
More than ten years ago, we coordinated with federal and state law enforcement
to provide 24 hour protection to a doctor in Gulfport, Mississippi,
who extremists were threatening to kill.

~~~~~~~~~

One frigging clinic...IN THE WHOLE STATE!!!
:wtf:

[TacticalPeek]

21. Oorah!

Perseverance furthers!

:kick:

[dogday]

23. The less states that approve this ban

the better... That is such good news!!! Thanks for sharing.....

[terryg11]

24. Is Mississippi the state where theres only one clinic left?

I thought I saw that on a news program or do I have my states wrong?

[MountainLaurel]

27. It's among the states with only one clinic

South Dakota is another, and I'm sure there are others.

[terryg11]

28. i didn't know SD had only one

It's amazing how hard some people in these states are fighting to ban in altogether when they really have done a great job denying many people access to an abortion by shutting down all but one clinic.

[MountainLaurel]

29. Here's an article about it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600747.html

They have to FLY IN doctors from other states.

[roguevalley]

25. thank you, Mississippi. :)

[countryjake]

26. Thanks to YOU for giving us the info & letting everyone know about it!

Whoo Hoo! This is good news to hear this week!

[NMMNG]

30. Yay!!!

:bounce: Great news! :bounce:

Let the wire hangers rot in the warehouses for at least another year.