Mississippi voters Tuesday rejected the “personhood amendment” that would have declared that life begins at fertilization. The AP reports that the amendment was defeated by more than 55 percent of voters and divided the medical, religious and anti-choice communities.
Part of the problem lay in the wording of the amendment.
“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,” the AP says.
Similar proposals have already been rejected twice in Colorado.
Mississippi already only has one clinic that performs abortions, “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.”
Supporters had hoped to use the extremist measure to provoke challenges to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
Part of the problem lay in the wording of the amendment.
“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,” the AP says.
Similar proposals have already been rejected twice in Colorado.
Mississippi already only has one clinic that performs abortions, “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.”
Supporters had hoped to use the extremist measure to provoke challenges to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.