Mississippi's "Personhood Amendment" fails at polls

Christi Chandler, left, and Stacy Hawsey, both of Madison and supporters of the Personhood Amendment promote their initiative as they waver signs at drivers in the midst of last minute campaigning Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011 in Madison, Miss. / AP Photo

JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi voters Tuesday defeated a ballot initiative that would've declared life begins at fertilization, a proposal that supporters sought in the Bible Belt state as a way to prompt a legal challenge to abortion rights nationwide.

The so-called "personhood" initiative was rejected by more than 55 percent of voters, falling far short of the threshold needed for it to be enacted. If it had passed, it was virtually assured of drawing legal challenges because it conflicts with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion. Supporters of the initiative wanted to provoke a lawsuit to challenge the landmark ruling.

The measure divided the medical and religious communities and caused some of the most ardent abortion opponents, including Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, to waver with their support.

CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reported earlier that the vote could set a precedent for the nation. The major concern for many regarding the strict law and new anti-abortion tactic was its possible affect on fertility treatments, especially for people like Atlee and Greg Breland.

"When I was 28-years-old, Greg and I were diagnosed with infertility," Atlee said. They used in vitro fertilization to conceive their 5-year-old twin girls. Atlee had worried the proposed state constitutional amendment could limit fertility treatments for other Mississippi couples.

"I don't want Mississippians to have to go Washington, D.C. or New York or California to have infertility treatment," she said.

Opponents said the measure would have made birth control, such as the morning-after pill or the intrauterine device, illegal. More specifically, the ballot measure called for abortion to be prohibited "from the moment of fertilization" — wording that opponents suggested would have deterred physicians from performing in vitro fertilization because they would fear criminal charges if an embryo doesn't survive.

Supporters were trying to impose their religious beliefs on others by forcing women to carry unwanted pregnancies, including those caused by rape or incest, opponents said.

Mississippi votes, when does life begin?
Doctors call Mississippi "personhood" initiative dangerous
The politics of personhood in Mississippi

Amy Brunson voted against the measure, in part because she has been raped. She also has friends and family that had children through in vitro fertilization and she was worried this would end that process.

"The lines are so unclear on what may or may not happen. I think there are circumstances beyond everybody's control that can't be regulated through an amendment," said Brunson, a 36-year-old dog trainer and theater production assistant from Jackson.

Hubert Hoover, a cabinet maker and construction worker, voted for the amendment.

"I figure you can't be half for something, so if you're against abortion you should be for this. You've either got to be wholly for something or wholly against it," said Hoover, 71, who lives in a Jackson suburb.

Mississippi already has tough abortion regulations and only one clinic where the procedures are performed, making it a fitting venue for a national movement to get abortion bans into state constitutions.

Keith Mason, co-founder of the group Personhood USA, which pushed the Mississippi ballot measure, has said a win would send shockwaves around the country. The Colorado-based group is trying to put similar initiatives on 2012 ballots in Florida, Montana, Ohio and Oregon. Voters in Colorado rejected similar proposals in 2008 and 2010.

Barbour, long considered a 2012 presidential candidate before he ruled out a run this year, said a week ago that he was undecided. A day later, he voted absentee for the amendment, but said he struggled with his support.

"Some very strongly pro-life people have raised questions about the ambiguity and about the actual consequences — whether there are unforeseen, unintended consequences. And I'll have to say that I have heard those concerns and they give me some pause," Barbour said last week.

Barbour was prevented from seeking re-election because of term limits. The Democrat and Republican candidates vying to replace him both supported the abortion measure.

Specifically, the proposed state constitutional amendment would've defined a person "to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof."

The state's largest Christian denomination, the Mississippi Baptist Convention, backed the proposal through its lobbying arm.

The bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi and the General Conference of the United Methodist Church opposed it.

Bishop Joseph Latino of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, a church traditionally against abortion, issued a statement neither supporting nor opposing the initiative. The Mississippi State Medical Association took a similar step, while other medical groups opposed it.

Mississippi already requires parental or judicial consent for any minor to get an abortion, mandatory in-person counseling and a 24-hour wait before any woman can terminate a pregnancy.

[Jedimonkeylizard]

And this is a good idea WHY?

Separation of Church and State for a Reason People.

We should require a License to be able to have Children.

[technocoffee]

A stupid idea from the most stupid people in the most stupid state in the union....

[meekerjm]

i am so glad that this did not pass at all. i feel that this should be an individuals, or couples, choice, not the stupid government!!! i do not want the governmnet telling me what form of birth control i can or cannot use because it destroys perfectly good eggs. i am 28 years old with a husband who has 10 more years of college left. we cannot afford to have a baby at all until he is graduated from college. i take birth control both because we cannot afford to have any children and for medical purposes. would you conservative brain washed bible thumpers rather have the child and then i have a ****** childhood because we cannot afford to take care of it? i do not want that... and i am not going to stop having sex with my husband because we are not ready for a family yet. you guys do not have to preach anything to me because i used to live in southern ohio (which is as bad as the south is) and i have heard it all. i used to be dumb enough to listen and believe all the religious bs, but i got older and smarter!!! as for the in vitro fertalization, i am all for it. my husband has a bachelors degree in biology, so do not start with me. i do not want to be held responsible because i accidently belly on the counter, or something, have a miscariage and be held for murder!!! IT IS MY BODY, IT IS MY DECISSION!!! my favorit saying about all of this is from george carlin: "Once you leave the womb, conservatives don't care about you until you reach military age. Then you're just what they're looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers."

[EgeChris]

If a ballot initiative like this can't succeed in Mississippi, one of the most conservative and Christian fundamentalist states in the country, then clearly the only people who believe that embryos are people are very small radical fringe. Politicians who engage in rhetoric supporting the idea, like Mitt Romney, are simply pandering to the radical fringe, and probably, with a couple of exceptions, don't believe it themselves. This is settled. We need to move on. Politicians are largely using issues like this to distract people from what they're bribed and corrupted into doing on behalf of corporations. We need to call them on it when they try to keep distracting us with this abject stupidity.

[noloyalisti]

That's the last thing we needed, more uneducated Christian inbred wackos in the south. Now we can avoid having some more of them.

[mecury69]

If men gave birth, there would be abortion clinics at Home Depot.

No one is going to make a man have a child he did not want or was not ready for, that's a fact.

This is about controlling women. And man made religion is part of the process.

No way a woman can make the sole decision on a baby. No way.

Alabama would be the next logical state (or would illogical be more accurate).

[Sippydog]

The proponents failed because they couldn't answer the questions. http://mississippipep.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/so-what-its-a-life-insulting-voters-intelligence-is-a-losing-proposition/

[Progress4USA]

I've always been a supporter of post birth abortion. There are a number of folks I'd like to abort...and I say, "Its not too late!"

:^)

[Harden_Tar]

Abortion will never be legislated away. Only societal values and ethics will be able to resolve this issue.

[formerusmcsgt1]

These people view themselves as being on a mission from God, apparently.

IMHO, people who profess a belief in invisible beings in invisible places need psychiatric treatment.

[formerusmcsgt1]

...unless they are under the age of say, 5 years old.

Imagined friends are cute on a kid.

Not so on an adult.

[KJeroH]

Why is it so important to ridicule how someone chooses to believe? Why can't you accept whatever philosophy you choose to help you understand life? I believe in G_d and accept Christ as my Savior, wholeheartedly reject the notion that life begins at conception and embrace all the physical sciences as part of G_d's laws. I view Her/Him/It was a being of law, first and foremost. But according to you I need psychiatric care. Even if you drop G_d from your equation, accepting the Big Bang Theory requires an enormous leap of faith. Why does my faith on a sentient being require psychiatry, while yours on pure chance does not? Someone can fill several blackboards with a series of proofs and formulas and tell you "That is why I think the Big Bang occurred." Though you may not understand one iota of it, you nod and say, "See? That's why it's ridiculous to believe in G_d?" Yet I require psychiatric help? I find too often that atheists come from the same arrogance and superiority of the most vile and controlling evangelists.