"We put in over $100,000, the largest support by anyone, and we worked really hard on it. It was a surprise to me that we lost. Three days before the vote, polls showed us ahead. We thought it would potentially challenge Roe v. Wade."

Both the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor supported Personhood.

Why did it fail?

The state's nurses and physicians who deliver babies opposed it because they said it would make routine medical treatment illegal. Since every fertilized egg was considered a human being, Ob-Gyn physicians said they could not help a woman who might die from an ectopic pregnancy. Those who performed In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), asserted their work would end since multiple eggs are fertilized outside the womb, only some of which are implanted.

Knowledgeable advocates of Personhood countered that IVF would be permitted, but that unused fertilized eggs would have to be frozen for future use. Three different laws passed by the Legislature over 40 years allowed measures to save a mother's life. Therefore, if Personhood were passed, the Legislature would probably adopt a law to allow an abortion if it would save a woman's life.

Planned Parenthood charged the measure would ban birth control. Actually, Personhood would not ban most forms birth control such as the pill and condom. It would, however, preclude the "morning after pill" which killed a fertilized egg in the womb.

Even some pro-life advocates opposed the bill because it did not allow abortions in cases of rape or incest. Catholic Bishop Joseph Latino, in a denomination traditionally against abortion, issued a statement that neither supported nor opposed it.

Governor Haley Barbour, a life-long pro life advocate said a week before the vote that he was undecided because "Some very strongly pro-life people have raised questions about the ambiguity and about the actual consequences - whether there are unforeseen, unintended consequences."

However, days before the vote, he asserted he'd support it. But Planned Parenthood ran ads in quoting his earlier doubts. "Haley hurt us tremendously," said Dr. Jimmy Porter, Director of the Southern Baptist Christian Action Council. "The opposition grabbed his doubts and ran commercials and robocalls that confused a lot of older people."

Porter sent a six-minute video to all 20,000 Southern Baptist pastors whose 670,000 members are a quarter of the state's population. It organized a press conference with legislators, lawyers and physicians answering concerns about IVF and birth control.

Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America, was not very upset by the defeat: "We are winning the war in terms of the culture. The public is moving toward pro-life." She's right. The Gallup Poll recorded a pro-choice majority as recently as 2008 when 50% approved of abortion vs. 44% opposed, but in 2009, 51% were pro-life vs. 42% pro-choice. And those for whom the issue is important are 2-1 in favor of pro-life candidates.

Why? "Sonogram advances have given us a tremendous victory," Crouse added. "People are acknowledging that it is more than a glob of tissue, but a preborn baby."

Parental consent or notification for abortions by minors is required by 32 states. Five states - Indiana, Kansas, Alabama, Idaho and Oklahoma - adopted laws banning almost all abortions after five months of pregnancy based on evidence that unborn children can feel pain.

Father Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life, lists ten reasons why the Pro-Life Movement is winning, such as many young people joining the cause, saying "It could have been me."

"Another reason is simply to look at the flow of conversions" all of which are "from pro-abortion to pro-life." Women who regret their abortions are speaking out in a campaign called "Silent No More." Medical evidence of the harm of abortion is converting others.

Result: A steep reduction of abortion clinics, from 2000+ to 740, and a drop from 1.6 million abortions in 1990 to 1.2 million, a one-third drop if population is considered.

Mississippi's vote is only a setback to the pro-life movement.

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Michael J. McManus is President of Marriage Savers and a syndicated columnist.