S.D. House Approves Abortion Ban Bill
Monitored lady-parts are productive lady-parts
The South Dakota legislature passed a measure imposing the most restrictive limits on abortion since 1973. It’s crafted to be the boldest, most direct assault on Roe v. Wade in more than a decade. If Gov. Mike Rounds signs it, it is expected to trigger a chain of legal events that could eliminate a woman’s right to choose - and alter the nation’s political landscape.
No one who hasn’t been holed up in a cave in Afghanistan for the past five years can reasonably claim to be surprised that Conservative Christians are about to seize the moment and control of the reproductive rights of women. Ever since the nomination and confirmation of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, it’s been painfully evident that the Relgious Right has been itching for a fight over abortion. Now, with South Dakota passing the most restrictive anti-abortions statute since 1973’s Roe v. Wade, the anti-Choice lobby has a bill specifically crafted to be a frontal assault on a woman’s right to control her own body.
Who says government isn’t for sale? South Dakotans should be ashamed of themselves for tolerating such craven, partisan, and corrupt shenanigans. Of course, this is merely a perfect illustration of government by the Golden Rule- He Who Owns The Gold Makes The Rules. The rest of us can go to Hell…and in the eyes of the Religious Right, we undoubtedly are.
WASHINGTON, D.C.- The state government of South Dakota is poised to engage in a most bizarre battle to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The state legislature earlier this week passed a bill flat out banning abortion even in cases of rape and incest. The governor, Michael Rounds, while nominally neutral, is thought to be ready to sign it. Then, the legislation will be challenged in court. And it is here that the real political battle begins.
A campaign to push the legislation through the U.S. court system up to the Supreme Court where South Dakotans can lead the charge to overturn Roe v. Wade, will cost over $1 million. South Dakota doesn’t have that kind of money. So Rounds is studying ways of accepting into the state treasury private funds with which to wage the battle in the name of the South Dakota citizenry. In short, the well-heeled opponents of abortion are going to hire the public state government to fight their battle.
But while South Dakotan legislators have portrayed their state’s political attitude as singularly pro-life, many argue the citizenry, if given a chance to approve or disapprove the bill, would come out against a ban. Thelma Underburg, the Executive Director NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota, argues that defeat of a recent bill in the state legislature calling for a referendum, in fact, shows that “despite the right to life people saying it is a pro-life state, they know…if it ever came to a vote of the people, the majority think that a safe and legal abortion is a right.”
Yes, you read that correctly: “the well-heeled opponents of abortion are going to hire the public state government to fight their battle.” Conservative Christians have figured out how to fast-track their bid to outlaw a woman’s right to control her own repoductive functions. It’s immoral, and it’s despicable, but it’s also apparently legal…not that questionably legality would be allowed to stand in their way. No, these folks are determined to remake the world in their image, and the Silent Majority can go to Hell for all they care…and since God is on their side…well, there’s nothing quite like having the Divine Stamp of Approval, is there?
With a decidedly anti-Choice majority now sitting on the Supreme Court, it doesn’t take a Ph.D. to figure out where this is headed. Because of the addition of Alito and Roberts, there is a very good chance that the Court will commit the legally unspeakable act of overturning their own precedent. Roe v. Wade may be “settled law” (to paraphrase Chief Justice Roberts), but that will mean nothing if those zealots on the Religious Right have their way.
Land of the free? Sure, as long as you’re a Conservative, White, wealthy, born-again Fundamentalist Christian. If this can be characterized as a “religious war”, and you can bet that this is exactly the way these folks view it, those of in the majority who support a woman’s right to choose are fighting an increasingly futile rearguard action. The focused, well-funded commitment of intolerant zealotry is tough to defeat- as we are all about to find out.
