Personhood Mississippi achieved a major court victory over the ACLU and Planned Parenthood this week, ensuring Mississippi voters will have an opportunity to affirm the personhood of unborn children this November.
Mississippi’s “Yes on 26” campaign exceeded the number of signatures required to put the personhood amendment on the ballot in February, but the initiative was immediately challenged in court by ACLU and Planned Parenthood attorneys seeking to deny voters an opportunity to vote on the pro-life measure.
After losing in lower court, the two organizations appealed to the state supreme court where the rights of voters were again upheld in a resounding 7-2 decision. The justices wrote in their decision, “Just as this Court cannot prohibit legislators from offering proposals in the House or Senate, this Court cannot impede voters from submitting proposals through the voter initiative process.”
Amendment 26 would amend the state constitution with a simple, one-sentence affirmation of personhood for the unborn:
“The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.”
Liberty Counsel and PersonhoodMS explained that the amendment would not modify the state Bill of Rights as the ACLU and Planned Parenthood claimed. Rather, it would give a definition for an otherwise undefined term in the state constitution.
Acknowledging the unborn as legal persons with basic human rights through personhood amendments and legislation has the promise of filling the “Blackmun Hole,” a shocking admission by the Supreme Court justice who wrote the majority decision for Roe v. Wade that if personhood was recognized, the arguments for abortion would be invalid. Justice Harry Blackmun writes in his 1973 decision that, “If personhood is established, the case [for abortion] collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would be guaranteed.”[1]
To celebrate the court victory, Governor Mike Huckabee, state Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant, author Deanna Favre, musician Mark Schultz, and American Family Association founder Don Wildmon joined Personhood Mississippi for the official kick-off of the “Yes on 26” campaign.
To learn more about Personhood in your state, please visit http://www.personhoodusa.com
[1] Roe v. Wade. No. 410 U.S. 113, Section IX. Supreme Court Majority Decision, Justice Blackmun. 22 Jan. 1973.
