March 12, 2006 7:35 AM

Another DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener

S. Dakota Legislation to Ban Most Abortions

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation Monday that would ban most abortions in South Dakota, a law he acknowledged would be tied up in court for years while the state challenges the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman’s life. It would make no exception for cases of rape or incest.

DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener #366: South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds

With John Roberts and Samuel Alito now occupying seats on the Supreme Court, slash-and-burn Social Conservatives are now feeling pretty good about themselves. It was just a matter of time before they could no longer resist the urge to flex their newly-found political muscle, eh? While there has been some debate among Evangelical Republicans about the approach to be taken, there can be no doubt that the goal is to take down Roe v. Wade. Some feel that the most effective and longest-lasting results can be achieved by nibbling at the right to abortion around the edges. Others are convinced that they can take down Roe v. Wade with a frontal assault. South Dakota’s new anti-woman abortion law represents nothing if not a frontal assault.

If you believe that women are best kept barefoot and pregnant, and are fundamentally unable to take responsibility for their own bodies, you are probably jubilant over this legislation. The reality that this law turns women into second-class citizens whose uteri are now under the control and influence of the state is something that should outrage reasonable people. This law provides no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Can their be anything more demeaning or insulting to a woman than to be forced to carry the product of rape or incest to term? Is Gov. Rounds really so willing to consign the distaff side of South Dakota’s population to these status of thoughtless, incompetent incubators? Apparently so.

Women are not second-class citizens. It’s fundamentally wrong to rob them of control over their bodies, particularly in cases of rape or incest. Wiith this law, the Radical Right has proven just how far it is willing to go in order to impose their narrow, hate-based agenda on all of us.

WE DESERVE BETTER.

“In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them,” Rounds said in the statement….

The Legislature passed the bill last month after supporters argued that the recent appointment of conservative justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito have made the U.S. Supreme Court more likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Abortion opponents already are offering money to help the state pay legal bills for the anticipated court challenge, Rounds has said. Lawmakers said an anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to defend the ban, and the Legislature set up a special account to accept donations for legal fees.

In the end, this is clearly about politics rather than the health and safety of women. By this line of thinking the uterus of a woman can reasonably be held to be the property of the state, and a woman is clearly NOT in charge of her own body. Even more disturbing is the fact that the Evangelical Social Conservatives behind this bill are willing to overturn settled law and force their narrow social agenda on everyone, regardless of their beliefs.

Gov. Rounds has clearly demonstrated that he is willing to pander to the lowest common denominator. Having solved all of South Dakota’s other problems, it’s apparently time to work toward establishing the rightful role of women as chattel, unable to control their own reproductive functions without the oversight of men and government.

Silly me…I’d always thought that Republicans stood for getting government OUT of the lives of people. It would seem that rhetoric doesn’t always match reality, eh?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 12, 2006 7:35 AM.

If this is His voice, I'm not sure I even want to hear what He has to say was the previous entry in this blog.

The new official South Dakota Department of Tourism logo is the next entry in this blog.

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