Mississippi Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, who was elected as governor yesterday, also co-chaired “Yes on 26,” the campaign to pass a “Personhood” amendment in the state, and said on Election Day that the fight over Initiative 26 was “a battle of good and evil of Biblical proportions” and warned that “Satan wins” if the initiative fails. Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, which heavily funded the “Yes on 26” effort, warned that the country would face God’s judgment if Initiative 26 lost and urged voters to “choose life lest the flickering flame of our liberty be extinguished forever.”
But the initiative did indeed fail, with a whopping 58% of Mississippi voters rejecting the extreme personhood law.
Along with Personhood USA and the American Family Association, Religious Right groups including the Family Research Council, Faith 2 Action and Liberty Counsel all backed Initiative 26.
Hours after the initiative was trounced at the polls, anti-choice activists are already blaming Planned Parenthood, the media, and Satan for the defeat.
Personhood USA’s Keith Ashley pledged to bring the personhood initiative back to the Mississippi ballot:
Personhood USA firmly believes that our campaign fell victim to the outright lies of our opposition, and because of their lies, children will continue to be murdered in Mississippi.
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We recognize that the right time to end abortion in Mississippi is now, and that is why the citizens of Mississippi will attempt a personhood ballot measure again—and again, if necessary—until every person’s life is protected.
Brad Prewitt, the executive director of “Yes on 26,” likened the personhood fight to the struggle against slavery, and Gualberto Garcia Jones of Personhood USA blamed the media and the “culture of death” for the defeat, in interviews with the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow:
"It's easy to look at things in a linear fashion, but we know that God's provision is not easily discernible by us in terms of his will -- and we have to await his will," he tells OneNewsNow. "And in the meantime, we have to be committed to biblical truth."
Meanwhile, Prewitt stresses the pro-life movement is not on life support in Mississippi. "There has been and there will continue to be a pro-life movement in Mississippi," he assures. "William Wilberforce started the anti-slave movement in England [in the late 1700s] and it was a 20-something year process. So if you have to start somewhere, I think it was a productive dialogue to have."
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A spokesman for Personhood USA say advocacy groups for personhood learned a lot from the campaign. "I think definitely the lies that were put out there by Planned Parenthood definitely took their toll on the people of Mississippi, and a lot of them believed them," says Gualberto Garcia Jones.
He laments that that misinformation converted to no votes on Election Day, even among pro-life residents.
"One of the things that was very telling to me was that the media, even in a conservative state such as Mississippi, was incredibly negative," Jones notes. "We had to battle uphill the whole time. They just carried the water for the opposition at every level.
"It's an indicator of how deep the culture of death has taken root of our nation.
Susan Tyrrell of Lou Engle’s Bound4Life wrote that it was a victory for “the kingdom of Satan”:
When push came to shove Tuesday night, Mississippians voted that the unborn could not be defined as people according to the proposed personhood amendment.
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The kingdom of Satan is united, which is why, for this season, it’s successful. Eventually the church will be united. At the end of the age we will be a powerful, praying church that stands for the only definition of justice that exists: the Jesus one. But right now we’re not there. I don’t want to be cynical. I know many wonderful praying people of all denominations who stand for LIFE and the word of God. We are advancing, but tonight, once again, we have let the kingdom of darkness advance ahead of us.
