In a blog entry at ColorLines, Akiba Solomon discusses the far-reaching repercussions of a proposed amendment, Proposition 26, to the Mississippi State constitution that would declare any fertilized egg a person with legal rights. She says the measure is anti-choice and does not address criminal circumstances, female anatomy or biology.
On Tuesday, November 8th, Mississippi voters will make a decision that will very likely have national impact. If the majority votes yes on Amendment 26, it would be the first state to declare fertilized eggs as people. Amendment 26, which has the support of the two male gubernatorial candidates — white Republican Phil Bryant and black Democrat Johnny DuPree — would essentially give fertilized eggs the same rights and legal protections as the women who carry them. According to The New York Times, the movement for so-called personhood is advancing similar measures in Ohio and Florida.
If women like the 927 who were raped last year in Mississippi were to become pregnant during their attack, they would be forced to have their rapist's baby.
The state's female victims of incest would also be legally required to carry a pregnancy to term.
And even though one in six women report pregnancy as the catalyst for first-time physical abuse by their intimate partners, abortion would not be an option for Mississippi's girls and women in these dangerous relationships.
In addition to putting fertilized eggs on par with actual girls and women, this so-called Personhood Amendment would ostensibly outlaw IUDs and emergency contraceptives, two forms of birth control that stop a fertilized egg from attaching itself to the uterine wall.
Read Akiba Solomon's entire post at ColorLines.