Mississippi "Personhood" Amendment (2015)
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| This measure was not put on an election ballot |
The Mississippi "Personhood" Amendment will not appear on the November 3, 2015 ballot as an indirect initiated constitutional amendment.[1]
The measure would have amended the state constitution to define life as beginning at conception and all human beings as "created in the image of God.[2]
This was the second attempt by Personhood Mississippi to pass such as amendment. The first attempt, Initiative 26, was defeated in 2011 with 57.64 percent of Mississippians voting against the measure.
The measure was filed by Ann Reed of Personhood Mississippi.[3]
Signatures were due on May 14, 2014. On May 12, 2014, circuit clerks in the state's twelve largest counties did not report any submitted signatures.[4] On May 14, 2014, sponsors failed to turn in any signatures. The group said they stopped trying to gather signatures months before the deadline.[5]
Support
Supporters
- Personhood Mississippi
Arguments
- Anne Reed, spokeswoman for Personhood Mississippi, argued, "For those of us who might ask the question, 'Well, what about this and what about that?' if we're talking about exceptions, my question is, 'When is it alright to kill an innocent human being?' My answer to that is, 'It's never alright."[6]
- Dr. Clifton W. Story, executive director of University Health Services at Mississippi State, said, “I believe we're created by God. I think God is the one that initiates all that. When the sperm and egg come together almost immediately, or within a few days anyway, the chromosomes that make up who we are and who we become are established.”
Opposition
Opponents
Arguments
- Atlee Breland, founder of Parents Against Personhood, argued, “When you say that (an embryo or zygote) is a person with a right to life, you can't do things that might potentially damage or injure that embryo's right to life. Even if you're otherwise doing them for a good cause. There's no way out of this conundrum that makes IVF [in vitro fertilization] possible under Personhood."[6]
- Dr. Randall Hines of Mississippi Reproductive Medicine said, "Courts and legislative bodies don't really play a role and should not play a role in (medical decision making). Patients should have autonomy, and doctors should practice medicine based on science, not based on some ill-conceived notion somebody has."
- Jonelle Husain, a sociology instructor at Mississippi State University, noted, "Those claims, that abortion causes trauma that is similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, are not just without basis in the scientific literature, but all the major medical associations in the U.S. vehemently disputed those claims. There is just no data to support it... Only a very small number of women [the 1.2 million abortions in 2005] in that group claim to suffer negative effects, which raises questions about the legitimacy of these claims."
Path to the ballot
The measure was approved for circulation on May 14, 2013. In Mississippi, an initiative can be circulated for one year before becoming invalid. Therefore, proponents had until May 14, 2014, to collect the required 107,216 valid signatures. In Mississippi, initiative signatures need to be turned in at least 90 days prior to the beginning of the regular legislative session. Turning in signatures in May 2014 would have placed the initiative on the 2015 ballot since the 2014 regular legislative session started in January 2014.[8]
If signatures were collected and verified by May 14, 2014, then the initiative would have appeared on the 2015 ballot. Sponsors did not turn in signatures by the deadline.[9]
Similar measures
Additional reading
See also
- 2015 ballot measures
- Mississippi 2015 ballot measures
- Laws governing the initiative process in Mississippi
Footnotes
- ↑ www.sunherald.com/2014/05/14/5574288/no-life-at-xc-proposal.html
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Right to Life Initiative Filing," accessed March 20, 2014
- ↑ Personhood Mississippi
- ↑ Mississippi Business Journal, "New anti-abortion initiative uncertain as deadline nears," May 12, 2014
- ↑ Mississippi Business Journal, "Anti-abortion initiative misses deadline, won’t be on ballot," May 15, 2014
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Jackson Free Press, "‘Personhood’ May Be Back," March 19, 2014
- ↑ No Means NO: Mississippians United Against Personhood
- ↑ Jackson Free Press, "‘Personhood’ May Be Back," March 19, 2014
- ↑ Reuters, "Organizers for Mississippi Personhood Suspended Signature Campaign Last Fall," May 15, 2014 (dead link)
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