# Mississippi voters reject anti-abortion measure for fetus personhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mississippi-voters-reject-anti-abortion-measure-for-fetus-personhood/602393 "2011-11-09T15:04:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mississippi-voters-reject-anti-abortion-measure-for-fetus-personhood/602393/41 "2011-11-13T04:32:45Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > From the article in the OP: **Why, exactly, are individual people allowed to have a direct vote on something this important?** This is the kind of thing that the legislature (the MS house of representatives/senate) should debate about internally for a very VERY long time, with extensive debate from statisticians and doctors, before making it law. It shouldn’t be possible for Billy Bob and Martha Jo to sally on down from church to the courthouse and vote, _based on emotion,_ to let women who have ectopic pregnancies \*\*DIE \*\*instead of getting an abortion. > > What. The. Fuck is wrong with our legal system that this is allowed to happen?? See [Op-ed cartoon by Ted Rall](http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/306bca90ee2d012e2fb600163e41dd5b) of Nov. 11, 2011 for his drawing of this – In particular, the 2nd panel. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mississippi-voters-reject-anti-abortion-measure-for-fetus-personhood/602393/42 "2011-11-13T04:47:09Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > The judiciary can strike down laws passed by proposition as well. It’s happened several times in California. That may be. But here’s the problem: If the legislature passes a new law, another legislature later can amend or repeal it. Or a court can whack it. When “we the people” have an initiative and pass it, then it may (depending on how it was written) become part of the state constitution. Then the legislature can’t ever repeal it. (I’m not entirely sure how that works – maybe a 66% supermajority or something like that can.) For example, California is broke today in large part due to [Proposition 13](http://www.calitics.com/tag/Prop%2013), passed by voter initiative in 1978 – and the legislature can’t do much about it. When a proposition becomes part of the state constitution, maybe a court can still whack it, if it violates the United States Constitution, or maybe if it violated federal statues. (IANAL nor a politician – can somebody help me out here if I’ve got it all wrong?) But the legislature’s hand are tied pretty much forever. What I’m reading is, the MS proposition in point here was to become part of the state constitution. If it’s like CA, that would have made it nigh untouchable. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mississippi-voters-reject-anti-abortion-measure-for-fetus-personhood/602393/43 "2011-11-14T01:30:21Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > What is the RCC’s position on abortion? We oppose it. > [@](#): > > **Bricker** , this statement is true or it is false. Unstated assumptions are not relevant to its truth value, and only its truth is relevant when assessing what physicians in this country are likely to do in the face of a similar law. No. Subtle differences in the wording of a law, and differences in the legal systems in play, make a huge difference. A civil law jurisdiction and a common law jurisdiction would likely not end up treating identically worded laws identically. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mississippi-voters-reject-anti-abortion-measure-for-fetus-personhood/602393/44 "2011-11-14T05:25:07Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > We oppose it. Well, there’s your answer. Unless you’re now going to doubt that religion plays a role in politics. > [@](#): > > No. Subtle differences in the wording of a law, and differences in the legal systems in play, make a huge difference. A civil law jurisdiction and a common law jurisdiction would likely not end up treating identically worded laws identically. We can’t _know_ what effect a law will have until we pass it and see. Which is not a viable strategy. Therefore we must rely on analogous situations and on precepts, such as the precept that a legislature or populace will not pass laws to no effect, and the precept that the other branches of government will take the law’s intent into account when fact patterns the law covers come into play, so as to not subvert the will of the people. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mississippi-voters-reject-anti-abortion-measure-for-fetus-personhood/602393/45 "2011-11-14T14:39:58Z")
> [@bahia\_hombre](#): > > Parasite? Really? That seems so hateful. Definition of a parasite: [An organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/parasite) Tell me how that does not describe an embryo/fetus. One of my complaints about the anti-abortion group is how they misuse words. As for the miscarriage claim, the law is that any death not attended by a physician does have to be investigated. If a fetus is a person, then they certainly qualifies. Back in the day of illegal abortion, any woman who went to the emergency room claiming a miscarriage had better had some fetal tissue in her. If not, the doctors were obligated to turn her over to the cops for questioning. ---
**Author:** ![bahia\_hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bahia\_hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahia_hombre)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mississippi-voters-reject-anti-abortion-measure-for-fetus-personhood/602393/46 "2011-11-18T02:52:31Z")
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