In a rejection of modern science and rational morality, religious extremists are trying to redefine “personhood” in order to satisfy medieval religious superstition and Christian propaganda.
Mississippi voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 8, to decide Initiative 26, commonly known as the "personhood" initiative. The initiative declares that a fertilized human egg is a person. Initiative 26 would amend the Mississippi state constitution so that the term “person” be defined “to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the equivalent thereof.”
The initiative is "a dangerous intrusion of criminal law into the provision of medical care," according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The Mississippi chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists sent a letter to its members telling them the initiative "will have a profound negative effect on our patient relationships for years to come." And a statement from the Mississippi State Medical Association warns that "it will place in jeopardy a physician who tries to save a mother's life by performing procedures and employing techniques physicians have used for years."
If passed, the initiative would make all forms of abortion and emergency contraception illegal. A woman would be forced to carry every pregnancy to term, regardless of rape or incest, regardless of her health, regardless of her choice. The initiative would also outlaw some of the most common methods of birth control, and restrict couples’ access to fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization.
Embryo Fetus Person
When does a fetus become a person? It is not certain. Some reasonably argue that a fetus becomes a person at birth, others reasonably argue that a fetus becomes a person once that fetus is viable outside of the womb.
However, many find it unreasonable to argue that an egg at the moment of fertilization is a person. Or that a blastocyst, a clump of 70-100 cells that begins to develop approximately five days after fertilization of the egg, is a person. These kinds of claims seem irrational and unreasonable, motivated not by science or reason, but by ignorance and religious superstition.
Common sense and scientific consensus have long dictated that a first trimester embryo is not in any meaningful way a person. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that for all intents and purposes personhood begins at viability outside of the womb, which usually takes place at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.
Tyranny via Religious Superstition and Christian Propaganda
Initiative 26 constitutes an attack on women’s reproductive freedom: a theocratic attempt to substitute the religious mandate of a few for the freedom of all.
The “personhood” initiative represents a dangerous attempt by religious extremists to drastically curtail a woman’s reproductive freedom. In essence, the initiative would place every woman into reproductive bondage, making every womb the property of the state.
Ultimately, the claim that a fertilized egg is a person is an insult to rationality and morality. It is irrational to the point of absurdity to grant a microscopic clump of cells, a fertilized egg, the same legal and moral status as an actual person living and breathing in the world.
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