Posted on 02/24/2006 12:13:14 PM PST by presidio9
State lawmakers voted Friday to ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota and sent the measure to the governor, who said he is inclined to sign it.
Under the legislation, doctors in South Dakota would face up to five years in prison for performing an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life.
The bill directly targets Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. State lawmakers believe the nation's highest court is now more likely to reverse itself on the abortion issue because of the recent appointments of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
Planned Parenthood, which operates the only clinic performing abortions in South Dakota, has pledged to challenge the measure in court if Gov. Mike Rounds signs it into law.
"I've indicated I'm pro-life, and I do believe abortion is wrong and that we should do everything we can to save lives," Rounds said before the vote Friday in the House. "If this bill accomplishes that, then I am inclined to sign the bill into law."
The bill passed both houses of the Legislature earlier in the session, but the House had to agree to a Senate amendment. It passed 50-18.
The new restriction would become law July 1.
Opponents of the bill argued that abortion should at least be allowed in cases involving rape, incest and a threat to a women's health.
If a woman who is raped becomes pregnant, the rapist would have the same rights to the child as the mother, said Krista Heeren-Graber, executive director of the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault.
"The idea the rapist could be in the child's life ... makes the woman very, very fearful. Sometimes they need to have choice," Heeren-Graber said.
Kathi Di Nicola, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa in Sioux City, said her clinic already serves some South Dakotans and is ready to assist others if needed. The Planned Parenthood clinic in South Dakota has performed about 800 abortions a year.
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Thanks for the thread & ping! I just posted this on another thread:
Fox News just had an alert that South Dakota's House of Representatives just gave Final Approval for the bill and it now goes to the governor - who says he will sign it as long as it doesn't have "technical problems".
It will become Law on July 1st if Gov. Rounds signs it - reports people are already stopping by the Gov's office dropping off checks to help with litigation costs & legal defense of the ban.
Well that is about 1/100th of NYC. - They probably do that in a day.
1) This should NOT be the case. Any law giving access to a child by the rapist father is NUTS!
2) Adoption is a choice.....
Therefore, abortion obviously must remain legal, right?
So, in other words, we can expect the challenge to this law to go before SCOTUS no earlier August or so, correct?
Well, I wouldn't be opposed to making him pay child support at all. But, no, he shouldn't be around the kid or woman at all. This sounds like a scare tactic or a loophole that needs to be closed.
Why has Justice Anthony Kennedy not been excomunnicated for his vote in Casey? Will he change his tune now?
should haved waited for stevens' retirement before they did this. the vote is still 5-4 against us in the supreme court.
Political figures who support abortion automatically excommunicate themselves. There is no need for the Church to take further action against them. The Church does not publish a list of Catholic politicians in good standing, but if it did, people like Anthony Kennedy and his fat namesake would not be on it.
SD just made my shortlist of places I'd like to retire in.
So, all convicted rapists and their children should be executed?
The appropriate death penalty should apply to the
criminal rapist not the innocent baby who is another
victim in the crime!
"The idea the rapist could be in the child's life ... makes the woman very, very fearful. Sometimes they need to have choice," Heeren-Graber said.
There is an easy answer to this.....execute the rapist. If you allow the abortion, you are executing the wrong (the innocent one) person.
Why?
If they keep voting for death, we keep passing laws in favor of life.
That's why we have legislatures...to express the will of 'we the people'.
This should have been a state by state thing to start with. ( Assuming that anything not mentioned in the constitution is entirely under the various states.) Notice some States are very vocal anti-gun, while continuing to sell hunting licenses.
Isn't it a little hard to get custody from behind bars?
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