Mississippi's Personhood Amendment did not pass, thus Mississippians are still not people.

Last night, people around the country went to the polls.  Why they did it on the second Tuesday in November rather than the first Tuesday of November I’ll never know, but we did it anyway.  While people in my home state of Kentucky were voting on governor and other state offices, people in Mississippi were defining what it means to be a person (in addition to their other voting choices).  The people of Mississippi roundly rejected measure 26, the so-called “Personhood Amendment” that defined the beginning of life as conception.

The “life begins at conception” amendment is nothing new for Personhood USA, the activist group that has gotten similar ballot measures on the books in Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, and twice in Colorado.  Everywhere the amendment is tried, it has not passed, but they still try again and again.  The law sought to define when life technically begins, and while it was expected to have a damper on abortion, it also had ramifications for fertility treatments and the like, which is what gave Mississippians like Hayley Barbour, the state’s Republican governor, pause.

“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,” admitted Barbour, once considered a 2012 Republican candidate for president who withdrew from consideration.

Tags: Mississippi, Mississippi personhood amendment, personhood amendment, personhood amendment fails, Mississippi rejects personhood amendment, 26, amendment 26, Personhood USA, beginning of life amendment fails, ballot measure 26, unusual laws, elections, hayley barbour

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