PersonhoodUSA: It’s Just a Flesh Wound!

Lindsay Beyerstein November 9, 2011

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Last night, the Mississippi Egg-as-Person initiative was routed, 58% to 42% according to the latest figures.

I hope the proponents of Initiative 26 had a party, because this is the best they have ever done. Colorado personhood measures were defeated by 40-point margins in 2008 and 2010. This is also the best they will ever do. Mississippi is the most conservative state in the nation. If ovum personhood can’t prevail in Mississippi, it’s not viable anywhere.

Undeterred by overwhelming evidence of rejection, Personhood USA has vowed to put similar measures on ballots in Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Nevada and California next year. And, a spokesman says, they might even try again in Mississippi.

At least the Egg-as-Person contingent is consistent. They’ve never let overwhelming evidence get in the way of a vigorous crusade.

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Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist and In These Times staff writer who writes the blog Duly Noted. Her stories have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, Slate, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Her photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ City Room. She also blogs at The Hillman Blog (http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/hillmanblog), a publication of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, a non-profit that honors journalism in the public interest.