SOUTH DAKOTA ANTI-CHOICE ABOMINATION MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT APPEARS

Most Americans are uncomfortable with abortion. However, even at that, 62% think it should be legal if the mother’s mental health is at risk. The South Dakota ban on abortion takes that way, way, way, further. Although one of the right wing anti-choice fanatics who helped pushed the legislation through, Republican Bill Napoli of Rapid City, told the viewers of the Jim Lehrer News Hour that although his impression is that most abortions are performed for the sake of convenience, he does see some "real-life exceptions" to the law. "A real-life description to me," expounded Napoli, "would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl, could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life." Maybe he can get together with Bill O'Reilly and co-write novels.

When I started thinking about writing about this piece I thought the story line would be something like "see what happens when you allow Republicans to win office? Bush appoints extremist judges with anti-choice agendas and right-wing theo-con legislators from rural backwaters jump at the chance to show their reactionary colors. And that is part of the story, of course. But I bet you didn't know-- I didn't-- that the vote to ban all abortions in South Dakota, now signed into law by the popular Republican governor, had more Republicans voting against it than Democrats in the state senate! Hard to believe, but 6 of the 10 Democrats in the state senate voted with the GOP majority in favor of the bill. And 8 Republicans (out of 25 GOP members) joined the 4 Democrats who opposed the heinous measure.

Id you read one of the local newspapers, the ARGUS LEADER, you don't come away thinking the Democrats are going to protect a woman's right to choice while the Republicans are going to destroy it. Democratic Senator Julie Bartling of Burke said "the time is right for the ban on abortion. In my opinion, it is the time for this South Dakota Legislature to deal with this issue and protect the rights and lives of unborn children. There is a movement across this country of the wishes to save and protect the lives of unborn children.” A woman and a Democrat said that. One of her colleagues, a Republican and a man, disagreed. "Republican Sen. Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls said 'This bill ends up being cold, indifferent and as hostile as any great prairie blizzard that this state has ever seen.'"

The amendment process leading up to the final vote was equally dismaying. "Republican Sen. Stan Adelstein of Rapid City had tried to amend the bill to include an exception for abortions for victims of rape. The amendment lost 14-21. 'To require a woman who has been savaged to carry the brutal attack result is a continued savagery unworthy of South Dakota,' he said... The Senate also defeated a proposed amendment to insert an exception to allow an abortion to protect the health of a pregnant woman. That was offered by Republican Sen. David Knudson. It failed on a 13-22 vote." Nor did an amendment asking for a referendum pass.

A well-respected Democratic political consultant in South Dakota, Steve Hildebrand, started a new PAC, Common Sense South Dakota, the purpose of which is to defeat the state lawmakers responsible for the legislation. Right now they are trying to put up billboards throughout the district of the abortion ban’s lead sponsor, Republican Roger Hunt, which blasts the legislation. And the Democrats who voted for it? Who fought for it? Who opposed the ameliorating amendments?

Anti-choice proposals of a similar nature are currently wending their way through the legislative procedures of Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana, West Virginia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Ohio. Bush, while dodging rotten durian and chappattis, has been sending out mixed signals, wary of the intense feelings about the no exceptions for a woman's health the South Dakota law is engendering. His pathetic press secretary spent a considerable amount of time dodging questions about it, looking like he would have preferred the rotten durian.