Mississippi voters decisively rejected the so-called ‘personhood’ amendment in yesterday’s election!  Voters understood it is government gone too far.  The amendment would have allowed government to have control over personal decisions that should be left up to a woman, her family, her doctor and her faith, including keeping a woman with a life-threatening pregnancy from getting the care she needs, and criminalizing everything from abortion to common forms of birth control such as the pill and the IUD.  Mississippians from all walks of life — medical professionals, clergy, parents, and young women and men — spoke out in opposition to the amendment.  In what is ranked as the most conservative state in the nation, voters of all political persuasions rejected this dangerous measure.

Our Planned Parenthood affiliate is pleased to have participated in the defeat of this outrageous attempt to allow government to intrude into the private doctor-patient relationship.  We made a financial donation to the Mississippians for Healthy Families; we held a phone bank in our St. Petersburg health center with students from Eckerd College and USF St. Petersburg who talked personally to voters in Mississippi; and we sent one of our staff down to Mississippi for the last six days of this campaign.

Mississippi is now the second state to reject ‘personhood’.  Colorado defeated the so-called ‘personhood’ amendment by wide margins in 2008 and 2010.  It would appear very unlikely that a similar attempt will now be made in Florida!