Initiative 26

This is going to be a long post. It's my perception of Initiative 26 which will be on the General Election ballot in Mississippi in November.

In 1981, Republican Jon Hinson was forced to resign from the U.S. Congress. A special election was to be held to fill the vacancy. The Republican party decided to hold a caucus to fill the party candidate slot. Several people, including me, jumped into the race.

As part of the campaign, we would go to various parts of the state to meet with caucus delegates for a question and answer session. At every stop some common questions were asked, "Who will be your chief of staff? Will your staff be integrated? What's your position on (name a topic)." I could artfully dodge some of the questions and answer the rest.

The question always arose as to my position on abortion. My answer was that I am opposed to abortion with three exceptions: rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is threatened. I think the woman should have the option of having an abortion when those situations exist. It wasn't a made up answer. It was my position then and is my position now.

Did it satisfy everybody? Heck no. The "Right to Life", anti-abortion right wing extremists exhibited outright anger at the answer. My response....you asked the question, you got an honest answer. What more do you expect?

Fast forward to January, 1986. I was serving in the Mississippi House of Representatives when a very strict abortion bill came up for a vote. There were only four nays cast on that bill. The four included the two females serving in the House, another male Representative and me. Interestingly, the two male Representatives were adoptive parents. Because of my stand on that issue, I was bombarded with dozens of phone calls from irate Pro-Lifers. I was told and so was my wife told that my entire family including our children will burn in hell.

On January 28, 1986, I was discussing the abortion issue with a constituent on the telephone. I was standing my ground and she wasn't budging an inch. Finally, I proposed this scenario; what if I was trapped in foxhole in Viet Nam and was being overrun by Viet Cong and certain to be killed; would it be acceptable in her eyes for me to kill my aggressor to save my life. Her answer was a shocking, "NO!" I told her that I thought it to be a very irrational answer. About that time, the Challenger blew up and we abandoned the phones to watch television. I have never forgotten that conversation because it showed me how adamant those people are about the issue.

In 2004, the medical providers were backed against the wall. They couldn't get medical malpractice insurance because of Mississippi's lack of tort reform laws. The Legislature commenced work on medical tort reform to help address the problem. Insurance companies were abandoning the Mississippi market, emergency rooms were shutting down, and OB-GYN physicians were leaving the state. Many counties were suddenly without medical assistance for births.

The Legislature passed far reaching legislation to help curb the ridiculous medical malpractice class action suits that were being filed daily. In addition to passing the law, the Legislature passed bonding and created a state run insurance company to help keep our medical doctors from moving away. The big class action suits ceased. The medical malpractice insurers began to ease back into the state. The state run insurance company was sold and the bonds were paid off. Since then, legal activity as regards the medical field has been minimal.

Now in 2011, the Pro-Lifers are pushing for a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions and have life be considered to exist at the moment of conception. Even those pushing the amendment admit the language is not perfected and the Legislature will have to fine tune it if it passes.

The medical profession has responded with a warning that they cannot endorse the proposal because of the legal uncertainness it generates. So here we go again. OB-GYN physicians will be most affected and will likely become uninsurable again. Emergency rooms and clinics which reopened after the last crisis will probably close again. The medical delivery system in Mississippi will be adversely affected.

Initiative 26 is a mean piece of legal mumbo jumbo. Here's my take on it.

1. It will not necessarily prevent any abortions because abortions will still be available in neighboring states. (Hello! Does anybody remember prohibition?)

2. It will put the lives of expectant mothers at risk because in a life or death situation the baby must be delivered even if the mother dies in childbirth. So what if it is the mother's second, third or fourth child? I think the mother should be given the choice of which action she prefers.

3. It will put pharmacies and doctors at risk of intensive litigation.

4. It will adversely affect the health care delivery system in Mississippi.

These are not all the reasons to vote against the proposal, but they are enough for me to make up my mind.

My take? It's bad law and detrimental to the general population of the citizens of this State. I'm voting, "No".