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Doggone not afraid of you in Mississippi

The campaign to ban all abortion -- and with it, common forms of birth control and fertility treatments -- rolls on in Mississippi.

The campaign to ban all abortion -- and with it, common forms of birth control and fertility treatments -- rolls on in Mississippi. Irin Carmon of Salon reports today on what it's like to believe in personal freedom in a state where leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties have decided to support government authority over every uterus in the state:

Cristen Hemmins, an anti-26 activist and survivor of a brutal carjacking, rape and shooting, told me she'd gotten a call from [Democratic candidate for governor Johnny] Dupree after repeatedly contacting his office. Dupree reiterated that he opposes abortion but thought there should be some provisions for rape and incest victims. Moreover, he said, his daughter had had an ectopic pregnancy and eventually had a child through IVF, both situations potentially impacted by Personhood."I said, 'I don't understand, if you're for all these things … why are you voting yes?'" Hemmins recalled. "[Dupree] said, 'I'm starting to see that there are issues … I've said I'm going to vote yes and it's too late to go back on it now. It'd destroy me politically.'"I tried to confirm those quotes with Dupree; he did not return calls to his cellphone.

More on Mr. Dupree's position here. Another pro-choice person in Mississippi tells Salon that the personhood side hopes they'll be too afraid to speak out. As you can see in the TV ad above, featuring Cristen Hemmins, the pro-choice crowd is speaking out anyway.