JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi voters shot down a referendum Tuesday that would have effectively banned abortions in the state, rejecting an initiative that said life begins at conception.

The so-called personhood initiative was rejected by more than 55 percent of voters. If it had passed, it was virtually assured of drawing legal challenges because it conflicts with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion. Supporters of the initiative wanted to provoke a lawsuit to challenge the landmark ruling.

The measure divided the medical and religious communities in this Bible Belt state and caused some of the most ardent abortion opponents, including Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, to waver with their support.

Note: The referendum would also have banned several types of birth control, including the morning-after pill and IUD.  Conservatives want to take the country back to the early 1900's when Margaret Sanger first started the phrase "birth control" and the Comstock Law of 1873 was used to legislate public morality.