Opponents Of South Dakota Abortion Ban Launch Campaign

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 15 Aug 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Opponents of a South Dakota abortion ban ballot proposal launched a national campaign Tuesday that aims to defeat the measure, the AP/Yankton Press and Dakotan reports (Jalonick, AP/Yankton Press and Dakotan, 8/13). The proposal, which will be on the state's ballot in November, would ban abortions except in cases of rape or incest, to save a woman's life or a "substantial and irreversible" health risk of impairment to "a major bodily organ or system" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/12).

Members of national abortion-rights groups joined members of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families at a news conference Tuesday to criticize the proposal, called Initiative Measure 11. Members of the coalition said they will run an aggressive media campaign and talk with groups about why they oppose the proposal, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports (Bremner, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 8/12). Officials from the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and NARAL Pro-Choice America spoke at the press conference (AP/Yankton Press and Dakotan, 8/13).

The groups said that the ballot initiative is an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade. In a statement, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said, "The measure in South Dakota would allow politicians to interfere with personal decisions best made by women and families" (Schor, Guardian, 8/12).

Although the measure includes exceptions that were not part of a 2006 ban that was rejected by South Dakota voters, abortion-rights advocates said that the new exceptions in the 2008 ban for women impregnated by incest or rape as well as women whose pregnancies endanger their health are written so narrowly that they potentially could be meaningless (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/12). PPFA President Cecile Richards said that the ban's authors have falsely depicted the exceptions as improvements on the 2006 measure. Richards said, "They are being deceptive by characterizing this proposed law as more reasonable and less restrictive," adding that the "truth is that this ban would be the most rigid and inflexible ban on abortion in the United States" (Guardian, 8/12).

Leslee Unruh, who is heading the campaign supporting the ban, said that the exceptions are not narrowly written and that proponents of the measure have learned from mistakes in 2006. "We are letting people know there are exceptions, and I think we will have a healthy majority on Election Day because of that," Unruh said (AP/Yankton Press and Dakotan, 8/13).

~ C-SPAN on Tuesday aired the press conference announcing the campaign (C-SPAN, 8/12).

~ WAMU's "The Diane Rehm Show" at 10 a.m. Thursday is scheduled to discuss the South Dakota measure and other abortion-related initiatives on state ballots in the November election. The program also plans to discuss a new American Psychological Association report on abortion and mental health. Guests on the show include National Right to Life Committee President Wanda Franz; National Women's Law Center Founder and Co-President Marcia Greenberger; APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion Chair Brenda Major; and Wall Street Journal reporter Stephanie Simon. Audio of the program will be available one hour after the broadcast (Rehm, "The Diane Rehm Show," WAMU, 8/14).

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