What's that you say?
I stumbled over this article earlier. I am honestly shocked that this wasn't all over the news. (With abortion being such a hot topic lately, especially.)
In a provocation intended to pose a direct legal challenge to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, the state of South Dakota has made it a felony to perform any abortion except in a case of a mother's life being in jeopardy.
Governor Michael Rounds signed the legislation Monday. Though it is not scheduled to go into effect until July, officials working in Sioux Falls at the state's only abortion clinic, where about 800 abortions take place each year, said they spent much of the day consoling women.
"This is a very real issue for a lot of people," said Kate Looby, state director of Planned Parenthood. "That's the part I think the legislators don't quite understand."
Rounds, a Republican, said in a statement after signing the legislation in Pierre that it was the right thing to do. He said he fully expects the law to be challenged, and that it might ultimately wind up in the Supreme Court. He compared the possibility of a reversal of Roe v. Wade - which in 1973 established a constitutional right to abortion - to that of the changing legal precedents around racial segregation.
The law will also almost certainly force a showdown before it ever comes into effect, an outcome its supporters, eager to overturn the 1973 decision, had intended.
"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 governor said. "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."
Around the United States, abortion rights advocates responded with fury, calling the new law "blatantly unconstitutional," dangerous and counter to what a majority of Americans support. Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion clinic in South Dakota, pledged to use every means necessary to void the statute. Under state law, if opponents collect 16,728 signatures in the next three months the law will be put on hold until the November election.
"We're trying to evaluate the timing and the options now, but we're committed to making sure this does not come into effect," Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a telephone interview. "It's a sad day for the women of South Dakota."
Already, the state's move seems to have emboldened legislators opposed to abortion elsewhere. For months, similar bills had been proposed in at least a half-dozen states, including Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee, but some efforts have gained steam in the weeks after the South Dakota legislature overwhelmingly passed its ban last month.
"Legislators feel that now is the time to wrestle back their authority from the courts," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, based in Washington.
I have to say that it's really sad that this legislation was even signed by the Governor. Yeah, I know it probably won't actually go into effect, but what if it does?
Now, for clarification, I don't approve of people using abortions as birth control or anything, but I think it's extremely wrong to dictate that women don't have a choice over their own bodies. What if a woman's life actually is in jeopardy, but the doctor doesn't think it's that serious? What if he doesn't do an abortion for her, and she dies? She'll be martyred because she died for her child, but the kid, if it lives, will have to live without a mother... all because of a law?
What about the people who are pregnant because of rape? What if a teenaged girl is molested by a relative and gets pregnant?
I know that most arguments can be answered with: 'Well she should have taken precautions beforehand to prevent pregnancy.' While I agree with that, I think that this law would create more trouble than anything else. Do they really want people to go back to back-door abortions?
The more things change, the more I wonder what the hell is going on. Liberties are taken with everything, more and more, yet there are some things that seem to be going in reverse. Now women are losing control over their bodies... Huh.
In a provocation intended to pose a direct legal challenge to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, the state of South Dakota has made it a felony to perform any abortion except in a case of a mother's life being in jeopardy.
Governor Michael Rounds signed the legislation Monday. Though it is not scheduled to go into effect until July, officials working in Sioux Falls at the state's only abortion clinic, where about 800 abortions take place each year, said they spent much of the day consoling women.
"This is a very real issue for a lot of people," said Kate Looby, state director of Planned Parenthood. "That's the part I think the legislators don't quite understand."
Rounds, a Republican, said in a statement after signing the legislation in Pierre that it was the right thing to do. He said he fully expects the law to be challenged, and that it might ultimately wind up in the Supreme Court. He compared the possibility of a reversal of Roe v. Wade - which in 1973 established a constitutional right to abortion - to that of the changing legal precedents around racial segregation.
The law will also almost certainly force a showdown before it ever comes into effect, an outcome its supporters, eager to overturn the 1973 decision, had intended.
"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 governor said. "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."
Around the United States, abortion rights advocates responded with fury, calling the new law "blatantly unconstitutional," dangerous and counter to what a majority of Americans support. Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion clinic in South Dakota, pledged to use every means necessary to void the statute. Under state law, if opponents collect 16,728 signatures in the next three months the law will be put on hold until the November election.
"We're trying to evaluate the timing and the options now, but we're committed to making sure this does not come into effect," Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a telephone interview. "It's a sad day for the women of South Dakota."
Already, the state's move seems to have emboldened legislators opposed to abortion elsewhere. For months, similar bills had been proposed in at least a half-dozen states, including Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee, but some efforts have gained steam in the weeks after the South Dakota legislature overwhelmingly passed its ban last month.
"Legislators feel that now is the time to wrestle back their authority from the courts," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, based in Washington.
I have to say that it's really sad that this legislation was even signed by the Governor. Yeah, I know it probably won't actually go into effect, but what if it does?
Now, for clarification, I don't approve of people using abortions as birth control or anything, but I think it's extremely wrong to dictate that women don't have a choice over their own bodies. What if a woman's life actually is in jeopardy, but the doctor doesn't think it's that serious? What if he doesn't do an abortion for her, and she dies? She'll be martyred because she died for her child, but the kid, if it lives, will have to live without a mother... all because of a law?
What about the people who are pregnant because of rape? What if a teenaged girl is molested by a relative and gets pregnant?
I know that most arguments can be answered with: 'Well she should have taken precautions beforehand to prevent pregnancy.' While I agree with that, I think that this law would create more trouble than anything else. Do they really want people to go back to back-door abortions?
The more things change, the more I wonder what the hell is going on. Liberties are taken with everything, more and more, yet there are some things that seem to be going in reverse. Now women are losing control over their bodies... Huh.