Thank you for all your hard work ! It has paid off. There is still more work to do.
God has been very gracious. We needed to get 89,285 signatures to put the Mississippi Personhood Amendment on the 2011 ballot. Last week we turned in 105,167 certified ! We got a total of 130,000+ signatures and still have some coming in the mail ! Once we get these certified, it will break a record for the most signatures ever on a initiative in Mississippi.
We started out with four families in NE Miss and no money. While we only raised & spent $11,000, God blessed us with a truly grass roots victory — over 1000 churches & 2000 volunteers from Corinth to the Coast & from the Delta to the Piney Woods helped ! Not only did we garner enough signatures, but we reached out to thousands of Mississippians with the love of Christ in practical ways.
Soli Deo Gloria !!!
Go here to see a video from the turn-in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmmKeegmY3M
The Sec of State’s office still has much work to do, but Sec Hosemann has already been publicly proclaiming that we will be on the ballot in 2011!
We have much work to do as well. We will keep you posted as to how you can help make sure that all human beings are protected in law & in love. With God’s help we will not only change our law, but our culture as well. Not only ensure equal rights to all people and restore Constitutional governance but protect and help the women exploited and harmed by the abortion culture.
One thing that we must do is “pray without ceasing” — thanking God for the victories thus far and setting up pray teams that will cover our work with prayer.
Because of our victories, anti-Personhood forces will be hard at work too.
Throughout history, any time that a society or law system sought to deny rights and eventually to brutalize a segment of the population, the first step is to de-humanize them. Then, when people who seek justice & mercy speak up for those denied rights, those dehumanizing or those who preferred the status quo will resort to desperate or ridiculous measures.
The grasping for ways to silence the voices of 130,000+ Mississippians and continue the killing of the unborn and exploitation of women has already begun.
After the signature turn in, a couple of small web sites, anti-personhood forces (from radical pro aborts to defenders of the status quo ), who obviously have not done their legal research, came up with the notion that the Mississippi Personhood Amendment violates Section 273(5)a of the MS Constitution’s Initiative Amendment Process, which states:
(5) The initiative process shall not be used:
(a) For the proposal, modification or repeal of any portion of the Bill of Rights of this Constitution;”
Before the language of the Mississippi Personhood Amendment was submitted to the Sec of State & Attorney General several years of not only prayer, but research and consulting were performed.
Our legal team is led by Steve Crampton, a Constitutional attorney from Liberty Counsel with 20 years experience. Steve and Liberty Counsel — unlike the anti-Personhood forces — has litigated literally hundreds of Constitutional cases in state & federal court over the last two plus decades and has researched thousands more.
To clarify for sloppy rushing through the statues seeking a “silver bullet” to stop Personhood, silence 130,000 Mississippians, and continue the status quo of exploiting women & killing children Steve Crampton pointed out :
“ A mere definition does not rise to the level of a modification. What the prohibition addresses is substantive change to the basic rights set forth in the Bill of Rights.
To simply define “person,” a term that already appears in the law but for which no formal definition has been rendered, merely clarifies its meaning; it does not repeal or modify any existing rights in that Bill of Rights, and it does not propose the addition of any new rights. Therefore it is a proper amendment.”
Steve further cited Black’s Law Dictionary, which is the go-to dictionary in the legal realm, defines “amend” as
“[t]o change the wording of; specif., to formally alter (a statute, constitution, motion, etc.) by striking out, inserting or substituting words”).
Obviously, by this standard, we are not in any way “amending” the Bill of Rights. We do not strike out, insert, or substitute any words, or formally alter the current Bill of Rights in any way.
We can be sure that this poorly researched “bill of rights” charge will be the first of many desperate attempts by anti-personhood, pro-death/ pro-status quo forces to derail our efforts — because the truth we stand for is too difficult to face head on
Again, thank you for your hard work & willingness to be used by God in winning the first battle. Please pray and we will keep you informed as to what the next step is.
Les Riley
