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Mississippi's proposition 26, an amendment to the state's constitution that would essentially ban abortions by declaring that human life begins at the moment in which an egg is fertilized, has brought to light various states' attempts to enact bills aiming to restrict abortion.
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Approximately 900 pieces of legislation dealing with reproductive rights have been proposed throughout the states this year, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. Of those, about 600 have been anti-choice bills aiming to reduce access to abortion services by imposing waiting periods, banning insurance coverage for the procedures, or creating gestational bans.
The effort to restrict abortion services has not been restricted to the states. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the controversial Protect Life Act, which was called the "Let Women Die" act by some liberal critics because of a provision in the legislation allowing hospitals to turn away women seeking life-saving abortions if the institution is morally opposed to performing the procedure.
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Personhood bills and amendments have been proposed in several states, according to the Personhood USA Web site. Although personhood legislation was rejected twice in Colorado, the North Dakota House passed The Defense of Human Life Act -- defining a human being as "an individual member of the species homo sapiens at every stage of development" -- and another personhood bill was advanced by an Iowa House subcommittee.
Personhood legislation has also been introduced in South Dakota, Georgia, Texas, Montana and Oklahoma.
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Personhood Amendment Goal Is Clear: Reduce Abortion Access
"These bills are an enormous overreach by the legislatures in many states to reduce a woman's access [to abortion]," Jordan Goldberg, state advocacy counsel for the U.S. Legal Program at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the IBTimes.
The Personhood movement is particularly invasive since its language could potentially be interpreted in a way that could ban some methods of contraception.
While most forms of birth control work by preventing ovulation and consequently, conception, some -- such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the morning-after pill -- actually prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman's uterus. Which would, according to Mississippi's proposition 26, be murder.
Some critics argue that the amendment could even be interpreted to prohibit all forms of hormonal contraception, even birth control pills.
Goldberg said the personhood amendment is demeaning to women and blatantly unconstitutional since it aims to invade women's right to privacy.
"There's no question it violates a woman's constitutional rights on a number of levels," Goldberg said.
The personhood movement is not the only pro-life legislation popping up in state legislatures across the nation. The Guttmacher Institute reports that states enacted 162 new provisions related to reproductive rights in the first half of 2011 -- 80 of which restricted abortion in some way.
All of the new provisions were passed in just 19 states.
