Personhood rallies show deep divide in Miss. - USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-11-04/personhood-abortion…

By Gary Pettus, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger

With Mississippians poised to vote on the Personhood Amendment next week, the war of competing rallies for and against the measure is escalating.

* Dr. Shani Meck, a Flowood, Miss., obstetrician, announces her support for the “personhood” amendment during a news conference in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, with like-minded doctors and nurses. By Rogelio V. Solis, AP Dr. Shani Meck, a Flowood, Miss., obstetrician, announces her support for the “personhood” amendment during a news conference in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, with like-minded doctors and nurses.

EnlargeClose

By Rogelio V. Solis, AP

Dr. Shani Meck, a Flowood, Miss., obstetrician, announces her support for the “personhood” amendment during a news conference in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, with like-minded doctors and nurses.

More than a dozen religious leaders spoke out against it Thursday at the state Capitol in Jackson, while at least 20 medical professionals rallied in favor of it about a block away at the headquarters of the Mississippi Baptist Convention.

On Tuesday, Mississippians will vote on Initiative 26, which affirms that all fertilized eggs are people.

Meanwhile, Gov. Haley Barbour, answering questions at a Republican fundraiser Thursday night, said despite his misgivings about the initiative’s wording, he voted for it in an absentee ballot. He said he would not be in his hometown Tuesday to vote at the polls.

“I struggled with it,” Barbour said Thursday.

“I had some concerns about it, have some concerns about it,” Barbour said. “But I think all in all, I know I believe life begins at conception.”

He had told reporters Wednesday that he had concerns about how it might affect in vitro fertilization and ectopic pregnancies. His comments angered social conservatives.

Professing their lack of faith in the amendment, clerics Thursday said that some supporters of the proposal were questioning the spirituality of believers who oppose it.

“I am not excited about an amendment that puts forth a litmus test on our faith,” said the Rev. Christopher Powell, rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson.

“Or one that poses the discussion, ‘Who loves God more? Who loves Mississippi more?’ It divides us; it does not unite us.”

Clergy members also cited “unintended consequences” of the amendment and fears it would limit access to in vitro fertilization and certain contraceptives, including birth control pills; imperil physicians with liability issues; endanger the lives of pregnant women; and other concerns.

“God has sanctified not only fetal life, but all life,” said Rabbi Debra Kassoff, leader of the Hebrew Union Congregation in Greenville, who read aloud a letter opposing the initiative signed by 42 “spiritual leaders of all faiths.”

The Rev. Carol Borne Spencer, who chairs the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference, read a letter of opposition from Bishop Duncan Gray III of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, stating the amendment would lead to “legal nightmares.”

The Rev. Lisa Garvin, a United Methodist minister, offered a statement from Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church, who wrote in part that, while many United Methodists will vote for the initiative, she does not support it, believing it to “exclude tragic conflicts in some life situations.”

The Rev. Jeremy Tobin of Raymond presented a statement from Bishop Joseph Latino of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson. The diocese is not taking a position on the amendment, while “individual Catholics, having formed their consciences, may vote as they so choose,” the statement said.

Ward and Latino were both away on church business, their representatives said.

At the physicians’ assembly, Dr. Freda Bush, a Jackson obstetrician-gynecologist, said, the amendment’s passage would establish “a culture of life.”

Birth control pills would not be banned, but any contraceptive that ended a pregnancy “will not be permitted,” Bush said.

As for victims of rape or incest, she said: “We should provide support for the woman and provide support for the baby.”

She said what are called “legal, safe abortions” also pose health risks for the mother.

Of concerns over physician legal liability, Dr. Beverly McMillan, president of Pro-Life Mississippi, said supporting the initiative is worth “risking the scorn of colleagues who are tempted to replace ethics with a calculation of possible consequences.”

Asked to respond to concerns the amendment’s definition of personhood is “vague” and could lead to the “legal nightmares,” Jackson pediatrician Dr. Catherine Phillippi said, “No one knows exactly what will happen.

“This (amendment) will establish a principle on which those decisions can be made.”

She likened the wording to that of the Second Amendment, which established the right to bear arms.

“Does that mean a felon has the right to bear arms?” she asked. “Like the Second Amendment, this had to start somewhere.”

Contributing: The Associated Press contributed to this report.