Mississippians are set to vote on a ballot measure this November that would redefine the word "person" in the state constitution to include undeveloped embryos. Members of the medical and legal communities have raised concerns that the amendment could have unforeseen, far-reaching implications for women's health, such as banning certain kinds of birth control, in vitro fertilization and stem cell research.
But state Democrats have been cautious of publicly opposing or even questioning the amendment for fear of alienating Mississippi's pro-life majority.
In defining a legal human being from the moment of fertilization, Initiative 26, often called the "Personhood Amendment," would criminalize abortion in Mississippi, with no exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. Personhood USA, the advocacy group pushing the amendment, and the Yes on 26 campaign are painting the issue as a black-and-white abortion ban.
"Plain and simple, this seeks to establish human life in the womb," Greg Sanders, the executive director of the Yes on 26 campaign, told HuffPost. "Obviously there's no exception for rape and incest. It's a human life, no matter how it's created."
The American Civil Liberties Union has already challenged the personhood amendment in court, and it will likely face a host of other legal challenges if voters approve it in the November 8 election. In addition to flying in the face of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that prohibits states from banning abortions before fetal viability, the measure could ban certain forms of birth control that thin the lining of the uterus, thereby preventing an embryo from being able to attach.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/mississippi-abortion-personhood_n_976872.html
