South Dakota Congressional Candidates Discuss Proposed State Abortion Ban In Debate

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 24 Oct 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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In a debate Tuesday on South Dakota public television, the Democratic and Republican candidates for the state's only U.S. House seat discussed their positions on a proposed abortion ban that will appear on the state's November ballot, the AP/Rapid City Journal reports (Kafka, AP/Rapid City Journal, 10/21). The initiative, Initiated Measure 11, would ban abortions in South Dakota except in cases of rape or incest, to save a woman's life or to avert a "substantial and irreversible" maternal health risk of impairment to "a major bodily organ or system" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/16).

Republican candidate Chris Lien, who is challenging Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D), said he opposes abortion and plans to vote in favor of the measure. Lien said abortion rights are an issue that should be left to the discretion of the states, not the federal government. Herseth Sandlin said the ballot measure is ambiguous and would interfere with a woman's private decisions. "It's an unwarranted intrusion into a very private decision that should be made by the families and their doctors, with the counsel of their pastors, their ministers, others that are close to them," she said, noting that the South Dakota State Medical Association also opposes the proposal. Herseth Sandlin said the issue should have been settled when voters rejected a similar proposal in 2006, adding that an abortion ban should not be present on the ballot again this year. Lien responded that voters have the right to reconsider the abortion ban. He added, "If you have abortion with no consequences, it'll lead to more abortions" (AP/Rapid City Journal, 10/22).

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