According to the Washington Post, ballot initiative Amendment 26 in Mississippi that would have granted “personhood” to a fertilized egg has failed.
With more than half of precincts reporting, the voters were rejecting the proposal to amend the Constitution by 59 percent to 41 percent. The text of the amendment:
The term “person” or “persons” shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.”
In October, Ken Blackwell, Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council told MSNBC:
Technology, as well as public opinion, has made it crystal clear that what we have at the moment of conception is a small human being… It is not a glob of tissue … it is a human being. What we are pushing for across the country — in Ohio, in Mississippi — is legislation that recognizes the human nature of that fertilized egg.
The Mississippi Baptist Convention endorsed the amendment. Over the weekend, Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, compared the amendment and the movement it represents to abolishing slavery.
If we’re going to be a civilized society, we need to extend to unborn children, from the moment of conception forward, the protections of life just as we once had to extend the protections of the law to those that were held in bondage… I think Mississippi will go down in history as striking a tremendous blow for the pro-life cause … I believe we’ve got to get to the place — knowing what we know now about unborn babies — that everything about that baby is determined at the moment of conception.
“Personhood” supporters failed with similar proposals in Colorado in 2008 and 2010. A similar proposal has been filed in Oregon for the 2012 ballot.
From the Personhood website:
- Personhood USA desires to glorify Jesus Christ in a way that creates a culture of life so that all innocent human lives are protected by love and by law.
- Personhood USA serves the pro-life community by assisting local groups to initiate citizen, legislative, and political action focusing on the ultimate goal of the pro-life movement: personhood rights for all innocent humans.
- Personhood USA is a 501(c)(4) Christian ministry that welcomes those who believe in the God-given right to life.
This is how the IRS descibes a 501(c)(4) organization:
To be operated exclusively to promote social welfare, an organization must operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community (such as by bringing about civic betterment and social improvements)… Seeking legislation germane to the organization’s programs is a permissible means of attaining social welfare purposes… a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity. However, any expenditure it makes for political activities may be subject to tax under section 527(f).
More on the Personhood movement from Irin Carmon (@irincarmon) at Salon.
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