Can Controversial Film Sway Mississippi Voters to Ban Abortion?
As Mississippians prepare to decide whether or not every human being is a legal person from the point of conception, Personhood USA took a bold step to email a controversial movie to 600,000 voters in the state.
In a move to sway their vote to the pro-life side of the ballot on Tuesday, Personhood USA emailed a link to 180, the viral YouTube movie that compares American abortion to the Nazi Holocaust.
“Personhood USA is in agreement with the scientific community in maintaining that life begins at conception,” says Ray Comfort, the creator of 180movie.com. “Those who say that a baby in the womb is not a human being are repeating the mantra of Adolf Hitler, who insisted that the Jews he terminated were non-human.”
Although the word “abortion” isn’t on the ballot, the Nov. 8 vote will nevertheless decide whether or not to amend the state constitution to define “person” as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the equivalent thereof.” The end result: ending abortion, even after rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger, by likening it to murder. Legislative watchers expect the state to adopt the amendment.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is paving the way. He voted “yes” on Amendment 26 via absentee ballot. Barbour told interviewers last week that he was in the process of making his decision. “I think all in all, I know I believe life begins at conception,” he said. “So I think the right thing to do was to vote for it.”
Pro-life activists aren’t the only ones making a push using technology. Last Wednesday, Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion opponents of the measure launched a robo-calling and television commercial campaign using clips from an interview with Barbour, urging the state’s residents to vote “no.”
Mason says: “The people of Mississippi will not be fooled. These tactics will backfire on Planned Parenthood. The people of Mississippi are well informed. They will hear that the governor voted ‘yes’ on the amendment, and see that Planned Parenthood is running ads implying that he did not. They understand which group deals in facts, and which is propagating lies.”
