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On Tuesday Mississippi voters will decide whether to approve a measure, Initiative 26, that would amend the state constitution to define the word “person” to include every human being “from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”
On the surface, it would seem to be a favorable advance for the cause of abortion opponents but the nature of the measure has sparked concern among some anti-abortion advocates that the passage of the measure could eventually threaten already-existing abortion restrictions.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, told NBC’s Chuck Todd last week that he believes that life begins at conception but “unfortunately, this personhood amendment doesn’t say that. It says that life begins at fertilization or cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.” He said, “That ambiguity is striking a lot of pro-life people here as concerning.”
Nonetheless Barbour later overcame his misgivings and said he voted for the measure when he cast his absentee ballot in advance of Tuesday. He also complained Friday that a group opposing the ballot measure, “has called people's homes and deceived voters into thinking I'm opposed to Initiative 26, the Personhood Amendment. As I've previously stated, I voted for the Personhood Amendment.”
Opinion: Human rights for fertilized eggs? Initiative at odds with science
Despite his vote, Barbour was articulate in explaining why some anti-abortion advocates think the Mississippi measure is either misguided or may lead to unintended consequences.
He said, “Strategically, there’s some national organizations that think this may mess up trying to get more pro-life policies adopted nationally.”
He also said, “I am concerned about some of the ramifications on in-vitro fertilization (and) ectopic pregnancies, pregnancies outside the uterus in the Fallopian tubes. That concerns me, I have to just say it.”
Jennifer Mason, a spokeswoman for PersonhoodUSA, a Colorado group which is supporting the Mississippi measure, said its proponents “were able to answer his concerns and that’s why he voted for it.” Mason cited a study by a conservative group, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, which determined that Initiative 26 would not outlaw in vitro fertilization.
A statewide vote has a lot of women in fear over the future of certain forms of birth control. NBC's Than Truong reports.
But, in an opinion piece in the Mississippi Business Journal, Jonathan Will, director of the Mississippi College School of Law’s Bioethics and Health Law Center, who opposes the measure, said “If two out of three pre-embryos are lost in the (in vitro fertilization) process, this would seem to be an unacceptable loss of life. If we are committed to pre-embryonic personhood, we should be committed to banning IVF and other similarly risky fertility treatments until such technologies are safe for all persons (including pre-embryos) involved.”
Prominent conservative lawyer James Bopp, who has argued several abortion and free speech cases before the Supreme Court and is the general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, said that lower federal courts would be likely to strike down the Mississippi measure, if it were enacted, and that the Supreme Court would likely not review the lower court’s ruling.
But if the high court did agree to hear the case, Bopp said, there is a “very substantial danger” that a majority of the justices would adopt a stronger basis for finding that there is a fundamental right to abortion than the due process rationale Justice Harry Blackmun used in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
If that were to happen, Bopp said, the current state and federal restrictions on abortion, such as the Hyde amendment banning federal funding of abortions in the Medicaid program, and laws requiring parental notification before a minor get an abortion, would be swept away.
Bopp sketched out his concerns in a widely circulated memo, pointing to the argument that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made in her dissent in Carhart v Gonzales, the 2007 decision in which the justices upheld the federal law banning the procedure known as partial birth abortion.
A constitutional right to abortion, Ginsburg said, ought to “center on a woman’s autonomy to determine her life’s course, and thus to enjoy equal citizenship stature.”
Mason said Personhood USA’s lawyers think Bopp is wrong. “What we’re expecting to happen with the personhood amendment is that abortion will be made illegal in Mississippi. And that is what the pro-life movement has been working for since the passage of Roe v. Wade -- to ensure that all children in the womb have their personhood rights recognized…. This is a definite way to see some actual results.”
A ballot measure similar to that in Mississippi was rejected by Colorado voters in 2010. Proponents of personhood efforts plan to try to get the measure on the ballot in Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Indiana in future elections.
Updating with a comment from Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project:
She said the group is hopeful that "voters will reject this attempt to allow government to interfere in the most personal health care decisions of Mississippi’s women and families. However, should the amendment pass, all options are on the table -- including litigation. We will not stand by while thousands of women and families are placed at risk.”
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In the Immortal Words of Mitt Romney,
"Corporations are People my Friend!"
Republicans can't decide if Humans are People or Corporations are People...
ted,,,, Yep, Romney's "Corporations are People, my Friend" & Cain's "What did you expect from me when you came looking for a job?" & Cain's "The Koch brothers are my brothers from a different Motha!" --- Words that will live for infamy!
And life never began for you White Rule with your snide comments as your only ability to respond to other people's posts show. You have no respect for other people's opinions, it's no wonder you have no respect for their control over their own lives. Everything you call or say about other people only reveals your own inadequacies (soorry, too big a word for you, flaws).
BTW, nice handle, are you a Bircher, a birther or a Klansman? Maybe a member of the Aryans?
We need Congress to stand up & protect American citizens from the abuses of religion... That's the part of our Constitution's 1st Amendment conservatives will never look at or recognize
A giant step backward for mankind.
Next will be some of these idiots who will claim that a sperm is 1/2 a person, ergo, you cannot masturbate since you will be killing 1/2 a person?
When does a Corporation become a Person?
When the Egg is fertilized?
I'm sorry but just the other week Mitt said that Corporations ARE people and didn't the SCOTUS say pretty much the same thing when they ruled to allow unlimited money from corporations to buy our elections.
Oops, did I suggest that corporations are buying elections, I didn't mean it really (wink, wink).
Am I guilty of manslaughter if I have a wet dream????
Why do Republicans at every election feel that they have a Natural Born right to intrude into other peoples bedrooms?
Aren't they getting all they need in their own bedrooms?
I have yet to hear a "fetus" complain! --- However, I've heard children complain & cry about going hungry because of conservative policies, I've seen them begging on the streets of America! --- Their parents need JOBS conservatives are still voting against!
It's not nearly as bad as the pain conservatives make children suffer though as they grow up with ignorance, without health care in support bullying in schools, maniacs hating government, other religions, cultures & gays, or their policies of depriving children of valued educations
Now with this "Parenthood" issue, some of their parents could be sent to jail! -- Great "Family Values" these religious nuts have isn't it?
And if you've got a life threatening ectopic pregnancy, you'll have a choice between travelling out of state for medical care or spending the next 20 years in jail. That's an awfully painful condition to be racing off 200 miles to an ER across the state line.
The Republican Conservatives want women going back to coat hangers and back alleys. That would be the final outcome of their ambitions among many other Religious possibilities. The next step would be Stoning Women and Honor Killings just like they do in the Middle East
The process of single embryo IVF coupled with oocyte cryopreservation would allow in vitro fertilization to continue under the Personhood Amendment without fear of retribution. Learn more at:
LOL you are forgetting 3 things- first off the reason they put in extra embryos is because by nature the odds of one embryo attaching to the uterine wall is low- if you only allowed one at a time you will be increasing failure of the procedures ans those costs will be passed onto the individual and the medical field- likely causing insurance companies to no longer cover it.
Secondly if that embryo does not grow because it might have died during the procedure- it's no longer a embryo- it's a PERSON. Someone has died- and therefore liability is going to fall on the doctors who did the procedure.
And thirdly if later in pregnancy something happens to the fetus- there can still be liability attributed to the procedure as a investigation would be needed to determine that.
Yeah, not gonna even bother looking at your nonexistent link. But for all of those couples looking to get a baby- they can now adopt the increasing number of unwanted children instead! Sounds like a fair-tradeoff to me! :)
Amazing how Repubs do not understand and accept the science on global warming, yet believe they are the experts as to the science of fertilization and a woman's body.
It's also amazing how Repubs are so concerned with fertilized eggs yet when immediately after birth - it's pull up your boot straps as you aren't our responsibility - you're on your own. Add the fact how they constantly talk about smaller government, yet this would increase it as they'd need more people peeking up and monitoring women's 'parts'.
meede1:
And really doesn't fornication fowl up the birth canal for God's purposes. Isn't that tampering with life? And shouldn't women be forced to keep their parts in order?
The Republican Conservatives want women going back to coat hangers and back alleys. That would be the final outcome of their ambitions among many other Religious possibilities. The next step would be Stoning Women and Honor Killings just like they do in the Middle East...
The right wing morons don't want government intrusion except when it comes to enforcing their religious views on everyone. I think we need to get some laws that have teeth to punish anyone that tries to use the force of law to push their religious views on another person. I am fed up with these fanatics. Such a law would not infringe on free speech at all. You could still stand on a street corner and spew your nonsense, but the instant you propose to make it a law, you get a ticket to gitmo. I'm not a democrat, republican, or atheist either so all the right wing evangelicals that I offend can forget that before you start your rant about the evil , godless, liberals. I just believe in freedom and doing the best we can to make this country better for those that have already been born.
I keep telling people now that corporations are people, that we just can't kill them off, its murder! The Supreme Court has said they are entities and they have rights like other entities. I think that Amendment about "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" would apply here...unless of course, the Supreme Court is wrong about corporations being entities that can donate millions to political organizations "they" like...
Of course, here in my town, when they sued this corporation for not finishing what they started, the first thing they did was talk to a human being, not the "entity". Perhaps we should use a Jiuja board to contact this entity? Sorry, this is all just too much BS for a country boy to process.
More on the actual topic, if this bill passes and a woman now gets an abortion (illegally) or takes something deliberately to abort the fetus, then it is murder. If a woman drinks or takes drugs and the baby is malformed or has fetal alcohol syndrome, then is that assault and battery on a fetus? I guess if this bill passes we're going to have a whooole lot more trials. Come on guys, use a little common sense here.
So now illegals can wait till they cross the border, THEN have sex and can stay here due to their anchor baby that is yet to come? Great idea.. sheesh.
The decision to have an abortion is ONLY between the woman, her doctor, her family, and god period. No one has the right to force their OPINIONS on someone else, especially when its a life changing decision and most especially if the decision to have the child puts the woman's life at risk. This is the same mentality from ancient times, this mentality was used to torture people to death who did not share another's religious beliefs in order to force people to adopt their view. People who think they can use raw force in order to control someone else's life apparently has no clue that everyone is in possession of free will and intelligence. Also as far as im concerned people with this point of view are just as evil and cruel as the people who mass murdered all those people in the twin towers, the only difference is these people prefer to make like cowards and hide behind and abuse the law. I will never accept this bs in my country and i will not even attempt to hold back the fury this bs has provoked out of me.
So how would they police their IDIOTIC PERSONHOOD LAW ??? Putting a COP in every uterus ???? Maroons !!! Currently we issue a BIRTH CERTIFICATE FOR A LIVE BIRTH !!! There is a lot that can go wrong through no fault of the mother, between fertilization and birth. That 's why we issue BIRTH CERTIFICATES !!! Of course, the Cons and Thumpers want to FORCE THEIR RELIGION DOWN EVERYONE'S THROAT, so they come up with this BS !!! DON'T VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN - FOR ANY OFFICE - FEDERAL, STATE, OR LOCAL - FROM COAST TO COAST - FROM MAINE TO HAWAII, FROM FLORIDA TO ALASKA !!! If we SWEEP THE REPUKES OUT OF GOVERNMENT, then maybe we REAL AMERICANS can get on with the job of MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN !!!
Let the habeas corpus lawsuits begin on behalf of all of those "persons" being held illegally in cryo freezers! Who will they force to carry those "people" to term?
LOL this is America! We won't force OUR citizens to carry those babies to term- we'll just pay some woman in a third world country to deliver them and then the babies will be wards of the state. Delightful! But you bring up another question about facilities that own frozen embryos...
So... this is based on their sincerely-held religious convictions? Fine. Except, I happen to believe that children are not gifted with a soul before birth, and that in fact, the soul does not normally attach until the brain has developed enough to contain it. Think back. What's your first memory? That's when your soul came into your body (IMHO). So, if I can get enough folks on MY side, would it be OK if we adopted legislation that made it OK to kill newborns? If not, why not? It's my sincerely-held religious conviction, remember. That should be all that matters. Or wait. How about instead, since we are a multi-cultural society, that we base our laws on scientific fact, instead of what some inbred cracker with a "sister-wife" believes!
'Nuff Said!
Yeesh Mick people are most definitely alive after conception as in after the sperm has received dna from both a man and woman. I seriously doubt a soul requires physical space to exist. But my point is no one has the right to force a woman to give birth if doing so puts her health and life at risk.
I am pro-life, took one look at their site for support and clicked the little "x" at the top. I did not care that they were wanting to prevent abortions that is a good thing but however, there is no need to make a woman that has experienced a rape or even incest have to carry a child to term. If everything is reported why not give the abortion I believe that a baby is a person when it has implanted itself within the uterus. There is still a while before it does this which gives time for the so called "morning after pill" which will be made illegal if this is passed. Why bring the unwanted children of unwanted sexual relations enter into the world. The Bible even condemns rape and incest so you can not tell me that if it happens it has happened for a reason. What reason to torture the women who have this happen to them.
The American (and Mississippi) Taliban won't be satisfied until they ruin all efforts at disease cures that would be made possible by stem cell research.
5 pages and the leftist baby killers still cannot make a cogent argument why it's ethical to murder an innocent unborn child.
They will employ every strawman argument they can conceive of (pun intended) to avoid the reality that it is a living human being in the womb.
That's because not everyone agrees that it's a human being in the womb and there's this pesky document called the Constitution- yah know, the same worthless piece of paper that the SCOTUS used to determine the outcome of Roe Vs. Wade to begin with.
Then there's the long term consequences of what will happen to all of those precious, innocent kids once they are popped out- especially seeing as that their moms were forced to bring them to term.
Save a baby- adopt one today!
Seems to me they went one or two steps too far. The Constitution provides for Life, Liberty , and Pursuit of Happiness. Well, If they aimed for technologically viable embryo, they would have saved millions. Premie babies are born every day. Instead they went too far.
Wow Larry, as a leftist , I'm kinda agreeing with you?? There goes your definitions .
Mississippi republicans have gone full tilt crazy. This makes no sense at all. Of course in this day and age nutbags rule. Great example of how republicans would govern in washington.