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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Courtesy Caroline Herring

I went to my OBGYN yesterday and asked when I might need a new IUD. Too much information? Truly, I couldn’t agree more, until NOW. My doctor kindly but firmly suggested that I make sure and get a new one as soon as possible, and certainly before the end of this year. The clear implication: Laws may change early next year, because we may have a new president, and the IUD could no longer be covered by my insurance. Furthermore, a personhood amendment would outlaw it altogether. I live in Georgia–a personhood amendment vote here is inevitable. This is not a slippery slope. This is a vortex. Why anyone in their right mind is taking these positions, I don’t know. But I know this: WE CANNOT STAND FOR IT. My vote from here on out goes to those who promise they will do everything in their power to allow my daughter to live in a humane society. Enough of this madness!

—Caroline Herring, via Facebook. Herring, a Canton native and Ole Miss grad, is an Atlanta-based singer-songwriter.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.