Ohio Personhood Initiative Fails

Another setback for the "personhood" movement: An anti-abortion group in Ohio has failed to gather enough signatures to be able to ask voters to amend the state constitution to declare that life begins when a human egg is fertilized, AP reports. Backers of the proposed amendment only gathered 30,000 of the 385,000 signatures necessary to put the measure on the ballot.

The proposal failed to win the support of major anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life, and the Catholic Conference of Ohio didn't join the signature-gathering effort. Similar "personhood" measures have been rejected by voters twice in Colorado and once in Mississippi, and failed to make the ballot in Nevada and California. The movement now hopes to get personhood measures on the ballot in Montana and once again in Colorado, where fewer signatures are required. (More personhood legislation stories.)