As of a few minutes ago, Mississippi’s draconian Initiative 26, which defines a woman’s fertilized egg as a person, is failing by 60% to 40% with 42 percent of the precincts reporting.
Under this proposed law, a miscarriage could prompt a potential criminal investigation into the death of “the person”. Women who are raped and become pregnant would be forced by the state of Mississippi to carry the baby to term, as would victims of incest. Furthermore, common forms of birth control and in-vitro fertilization would be prohibited. It’s an assault of epic proportions on women’s reproductive rights.
Despite having Democrats running for only five out of eight statewide elected offices, it’s good to see that the voters of Mississippi are more progressive than the troglodytes who proposed this measure.
UPDATE, 7:31pm: Reports on cable television networks are saying that the Associated Press has called this election and Initiative 26 has been defeated.
Don’t expect the extreme right wing to give up on this. They’ll be back with something similar before long. They only have to win once…