Mississippi’s ‘anti-research’ personhood amendment fails

A Mississippi ballot measure known as Initiative 26, which would have amended the state’s constitution to re-define “person” to include “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof,” was defeated during an 8 November election.

Opponents of the referendum declared it anti-research, arguing that the measure would prevent the pursuit of medical research in Mississippi that uses human embryonic stem cells.