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Volunteers Eva Zastrow of Jackson, left, and Mary Johnson of Kentucky hold a sign in support of a proposed amendment to the Mississippi Constitution that would define life as beginning at conception. Zastrow and Johnson were demonstrating
Thursday morning at the intersection of
Gloster and Main streets in Tupelo with
other volunteers from the Milwaukee-based non-profit, Missionaries to the Preborn. (Galen Holley)
Volunteers with Missionaries to the Preborn stood at the intersection of Gloster and Main streets holding signs showing aborted fetuses and passing out anti-abortion literature.
The group urged passersby to vote yes on Amendment 26, otherwise known as The Mississippi Personhood Amendment, which would amend the state's constitution to say that life begins at fertilization.
The amendment was proposed by the group Personhood Mississippi, which collected more than 100,000 signatures from Mississippians in order to get the proposed legislation on the November ballot.
While abortion remains legal under federal law, it is unclear what effect the personhood initiative would have on state law if approved by voters.
"We're here to rally behind Mississippians," said the Rev. Matt Trewhell, a non-denominational minister from Milwaukee and one of the organizers of Thursday's demonstration. "Amendment 26 is the most strategic effort on behalf of those who oppose abortion in our nation."
Trewhell and about 60 volunteers from across the country have spent the past two weeks in Mississippi staging demonstrations like the one Thursday.
The group plans to demonstrate in Corinth today.
Contact Galen Holley at (662) 678-1510 or galen.holley@journalinc.com.