Have you guys heard about Amendment 26 in Mississippi? It’s called the Mississippi Personhood Amendment and will go up for a vote next month. I’m not bringing this up to be overly-controversial. I am just surprised at how little publicity I feel like this issue has been given.
The proposed amendment reads:
Person defined. As used in … the state constitution, “The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.”
The Personhood Mississippi website continues, saying:
If the majority of the people voting in vote YES on Amendment 26, abortion will be outlawed in our state; cloning and other forms of medical cannibalism will be effectively stopped; and a challenge will be set up to Roe v Wade.
My Thoughts
I will not get into my thoughts and opinions on the topic of abortion. I appreciate every single one of my readers and the fact that you all have your own values, views, and beliefs. This is not the place for me to impose my own. My concerns over this amendment lie not in what is being proposed but in the fact that I’m not sure voters are fully aware of the implications its passage could hold for women’s rights in the future.
The Defense on Both Sides
I don’t think anybody should ever make a decision or form an opinion without hearing at least two sides of a story. Click the boxes for the defense from both the opponents and the proponents of the amendment. Bear in mind that I think both are rather extremist, and take them accordingly with a grain of salt.
Your Thoughts
What do you think? I want to hear from everybody on this one. Whether you’re pro-anything, indifferent, or incensed – tell me what you think!
Yikes–I thought I was informed about the goings-on of our nation, but apparently, I’ve totally missed this (or, as you suggested, it just hasn’t been discussed much–ODD!). I can understand the reasoning behind the proposed law (including the religious, psychological and emotional aspects), but I shrink to think about what would happen if Roe v. Wade were completely overturned. I’m always a little wary of a government that will put the interests of a two- or three-celled organism over a fully-grown woman’s choices. While I have never had to make that decision (and as such, I know that actually being in the situation where I had to have an abortion might completely change my views), I would not vote for this amendment simple because it is SO open-ended (and it seems oddly concerned with cloning…or was that just me picking up on that?). I’m definitely for limiting abortion types (i.e. if you’re just deciding to get rid of a baby at 36 weeks, you should probably figure out an adoption plan instead), but the complete abolishment of abortion seems drastic. I could go on and on about the idea of “life” and when it begins (for example, the Puritans didn’t believe life began until the “quickening” or when the baby moved), but that’s an entirely different issue. Good luck on your decision!