Feature: Doorways

In this crucial election we need you. We are determined not only to elect feminists and help bring out a strong feminist vote, but also to defeat anti-women's rights and anti-civil rights state ballot initiatives. Ten states may have anti-abortion ballot measures and five states may have affirmative action bans on the ballot. We must fight back!

Right now extremists are circulating petitions to add more anti-abortion constitutional amendments on the ballots in Colorado, Montana, and possibly Georgia, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Oregon. These so-called "personhood initiatives" declare that a fertilized egg is a "person" who enjoys "inalienable rights, equality of justice, and due process of the law."

The purpose of these draconian measures, although not mentioned in the ballot measure itself, is to ban not only abortion but to outlaw the IUD and emergency contraception as well. "Personhood" rights for fertilized eggs would also threaten in vitro clinics that aid women in becoming pregnant.

As if this is not bad enough, extremists are working to place anti-abortion initiatives on the California and South Dakota ballots once again. We defeated these efforts in 2006, but antis are pushing the CA parental notification initiative and the SD abortion ban (with only minor modifications) forward once again.

One of the most diabolical anti-abortion petition drives is occurring in Missouri. A new group called "Stop Forced Abortions" is gathering signatures for a proposed initiative that threatens doctors with "medical negligence" if they perform an abortion without meeting strict conditions, such as the procedure being medically necessary in order to prevent the immediate death, or severe threat of substantive and irreversible impairment to a woman. The measure would allow a woman who later regrets her decision to abort to sue the doctor or nurse for so-called "negligence" in pre-abortion screening or counseling.