MISSISSIPPI HAS REJECTED a controversial constitutional amendment which would have defined a fertilised human egg as a human and effectively outlawed abortion in the state.

The amendment echoed the pro-life amendment passed in Ireland in 1983 which recognised a right to life for the unborn.

Mississippians voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent to reject the proposed change, which would have given rights to an embryo from the moment it was conceived. The move which was pushed by pro-life groups to tighten the US state’s already restrictive abortion laws and outlaw some forms of contraception in the state.

The ‘personhood initiative’  was likely to have faced legal challenges even if it had passed as the US Supreme Court established the right of women to have an abortion in the 1973 Roe vs Wade case in 1973, reports the BBC.

The question put before voters yesterday was: “Should the term ‘person’ be defined to include every human being from the moment of fertilisation, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof?”

The pro-life movement in the state had collected over 100,000 signatures in order to get the proposal, known as Amendment 26, on the ballot.

A number of US states have introduced restrictive abortion laws in recent years.