Even though voters there will go to the polls Tuesday to elect a new governor, political and cultural observers nationwide are watching to see if Mississippians pass Initiative Measure 26, a constitutional amendment that supporters say would end abortion in Mississippi -- and potentially do the same nationwide in a challenge to Roe v. Wade.

The idea is simple enough: amend the Mississippi constitution to define all life as beginning at conception, which would, supporters say, protect the unborn. The proposed 21-word amendment states: "The term 'person' or 'persons' shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional ...