JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- White House officials are praising the
defeat of an anti-abortion proposal in Mississippi that would have
defined life as beginning at conception.

President Barack Obama's spokesman said in a statement Wednesday that the vote was a victory for women and families.

Spokesman Jay Carney says the president believes that extreme amendments like this would do real damage to a woman's constitutional right to make her own health care decisions, including some very personal decisions on contraception and family planning.

Despite the loss in Mississippi, abortion opponents say they'll
pursue the so-called personhood ballot initiative in six other
states.

The Mississippi proposal was intended to prompt a legal
challenge to the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision that
established a legal right to abortion.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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