Defeated Personhood Advocates Vow To Continue Their Idiotic Fight
Yesterday, Mississippi voters sent Initiative 26— the so-called “Personhood” Amendment— shrieking off into the night like a vanquished horror movie antagonist. Even though 58% of voters in the reddest of red states rejected the extreme abortion ban, advocates of calling zygotes people are undaunted and insist that this isn’t the last you’ll see of them or the personhood fight. Coming to a state or local ballot near you: get ready for Personhood II: Electric Fetus Boogaloo.
Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA, says that he has no plans to give up or even interpret this as a hint that people mostly don’t agree with him; he plans on taking his talents to South Beach, where he’ll attempt to get Personhood on Florida’s ballot next year and solidify his status as the LeBron James of terrible ideas. He’s also trying again in Montana, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Ohio. While Personhood was on the ballot in Colorado in 2008 and 2010, voters rejected the measure both times. They’re 0-3, yet, if you ask Mason, they’re still headed to the championship.
Mason doesn’t blame his cause’s latest defeat on the fact that maybe women kind of like having control over their reproductive capacities and men are cool with that; instead he blames people being confused by the lying liars at Planned Parenthood and other such organizations. Of the rejection of Initiative 26, he says,
…it’s not because the people are not pro-life. It’s because Planned Parenthood put a lot of misconceptions and lies in front of folks and created a lot of confusion.
Planned Parenthood, by the way, didn’t create any “lies” or “misconceptions;” it just told people what the amendment would actually do, using facts. It’s not like the organization swooped down the river with dry ice and special effects, claiming that all the zygotes would take Mississippians’ jobs and pay no taxes like a bunch of racist political caricatures that got forwarded around Liberty University’s College Republicans listserve. Anti-Personhood advocates simply pointed out that Initiative 26 would ultimately harm women.