Mississippi voters reject personhood amendment

By a 58%-42% margin, Mississippi voters rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have defined person to include “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.”

The state’s bishops had remained neutral on the measure, and the National Right to Life Committee had discouraged it, arguing that if adopted, the amendment would probably be subject to legal challenge and likely overruled by the US Supreme Court, thus causing a net setback for the pro-life movement.