MS Personhood Amendment
By Rob ChambersPersonhood Mississippi, a pro-life organization, is seeking to end abortion in Mississippi by amending the Bill of Rights section of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi.
Their approach is a two-fold initiative consisting of a statewide petition and a statewide vote.
First, Personhood Mississippi is seeking to collect and certify 90,000 signatures from registered voters (equally divided throughout Mississippi). They will need to gather these signatures by February 13, 2010. Those that sign the petition agree that unborn human beings ought to have the same legal status and right-to-life as persons who are born.
Second, Personhood Mississippi says that if enough signatures are gathered, then Mississippi voters can decide on the 2011 ballot if unborn human beings ought to have the fundamental right-to-life as all other persons.
The Christian Action Commission is not a sponsor of this initiative, but the fact that unborn human beings are persons is certainly a principle we agree with.
In fact, at the 2009 Mississippi Baptist Convention the following resolution in opposition to abortion was passed:
“…Therefore, be it RESOLVED, That Mississippi Baptists affirm all just and legal pro-life efforts that support the biblical principle that all unborn human life are persons...”
Having said this, pro-life, constitutional experts assert that amending the Bill of Rights section of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi by a voter referendum, as the Personhood Amendment is doing, is not a legal procedure to amend the constitution.
For their basis, they cite Article 15 of the MS Constitution saying, “The [voter] initiative process shall not be used: (a) For the proposal, modification or repeal of any portion of the Bill of Rights of this Constitution…”
They claim this section of the MS Constitution makes it abundantly clear that the people of Mississippi cannot vote by a referendum to modify the MS Bill of Rights.
Instead, they propose going through the valid and legal channel of the Mississippi Legislature to amend the Bill of Rights.
Pro-life people who oppose this voter referendum/initiative claim to do so on a legal basis, not a moral basis. These supporters of the sanctity of human life also work hard to end abortion in our state and nation, but they have good reason to believe that efforts to gather signatures will legally be for naught. It has also been argued that a loss in the courts defending the initiative may even cause a setback to the pro-life movement in Mississippi – one of the most pro-life states in the nation.
It is important to note that Personhood Mississippi has stated in their literature that:
“Undoubtedly there will be litigation. As it now stands, the odds are that we would lose, at least in the lower courts. But no one can accurately predict the future, and many believe that the current Supreme Court is more favorably inclined to overturn Roe than any before. And even if not, the question remains: If it is the right thing to do (and it is), if not now, when? And if not us, who?”
Legal counsel for Personhood Mississippi has made the argument that they are not proposing any substantive changes that would add to or modify the MS Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Instead they seek to amend the Bill of Rights to ‘define’ the word – person. They would do this by adding to the Bill of Rights a section (sec. 33) that would define the word person.
The Christian Action Commission is not in a position to render legal council on this. If you would like to support the Personhood Amendment, contact Personhood Mississippi at 662-760-8695 or go to www.personhoodmississippi.com.