PIERRE, S.D. - Gov. Mike Rounds said he is inclined to sign a bill that would ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota, making it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life.
The ban, including in cases of rape or incest, was approved Friday by South Dakota lawmakers, setting up a deliberate frontal assault on
Roe v. Wade at a time when some activists see the
U.S. Supreme Court as more willing than ever to overturn the 33-year-old decision.
Planned Parenthood, which operates the only clinic in the state that provides abortions, vowed to sue. But even before the bill has a signature, money to defend it poured in. Lawmakers were told during the debate that an anonymous donor pledged $1 million to defend the ban, and the Legislature was setting up a special account to accept donations.
"We've had people stopping in our office trying to drop off checks to promote the defense of this legislation already," Rounds said.
Many opponents and supporters of abortion rights believe the U.S. Supreme Court is more likely to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion now that conservatives John Roberts and Samuel Alito are on the bench. Lawmakers said growing support among South Dakotans for abortion restrictions gave the bill momentum.
Under the measure, doctors could get up to five years in prison for performing an illegal abortion. The House passed the bill 50-18 on Friday, and the Senate approved it 23-12 earlier this week. If signed, it would become law July 1.
A judge is likely to suspend the abortion ban during the expected legal challenge, which means it would never take effect unless the state gets the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and wins.
Rounds said his staff will review the bill for technical defects. He said he vetoed a similar measure two years ago because it would have wiped out all existing restrictions on abortion while the bill was challenged in court.
"I've indicated I'm pro-life and I do believe abortion is wrong and that we should do everything we can to save lives. If this bill accomplishes that, then I am inclined to sign the bill into law," he said.Gov. Mike Rounds answers questions about a bill that would ban abortions in the South Dakota Friday, Feb. 24, 2006, in Pierre, S.D. Rounds says he will have to see the bill before he decides what action he will take on it. (AP Photo/Jenny Michael)
Like it or not, this is the radical wing-nut's direct challenge to overturn Roe verses Wade. The wing-nuts have been working towards this goal for the past 30 years--certainly since the Reagan administration, with packing the lower courts with hard-lined conservative judges who could then move up to the Supreme Court. The Republican wedge issues, to rally their troops and blunt the Democratic opposition, have always been the social issues of gay marriage, flag burning, and abortion Now that they've been able to replace the abortion swing vote of Sandra Day O'Conner with Samuel Alito, they are on the verge of achieving their dream goal of banning abortions. And the American public was either too dumb, or too frightened by the Republican scare-tactics of terrorism and 9/11, to fully comprehend how a second term Bush administration would revamp the Supreme Court.
Roe verses Wade will be overturned this year--or at least completely gutted.
But there's a problem with the wing-nut's dream of overturning abortion. Abortion has always been the central political wedge issue for the Republicans. Once abortion is overturned, what else is there? A constitutional amendment? That will be especially difficult--even for the Republicans. There is no other social issue that can convey such emotional passion than abortion--whether you believe in a woman's right to choose, or believe that abortion is murder. Banning abortion at the federal level, will also diffuse that emotional passion the wing-nuts have on the Republican side of the debate. Hey, we have achieved our goal in overturning Roe, so now let's all go home. At the same time, you can bet that once Roe is overturned, it will galvanize the Democrats and the pro-choice people as never before, just as in 1973, when the Supreme Court's decision to uphold abortion as the supreme law of the land had galvanized the extreme conservatives. The abortion wedge issue becomes an advantage for the Democrats.
A second problem here is the women's vote. Like it or not, women make up half the country's population. They are a major voting block. If the Republicans overturn Roe, how do you think the women voters will respond once their rights are taken away--by male Republican lawmakers? Abortion becomes the battle of the sexes. And the Republican Party will be on the side of restricting women's rights in this country. Back in the early to middle-70s, women were fighting for both abortion, and the Equal Rights Amendment. Once abortion is banned, you can bet that both of these issues will be at the forefront of the country's social debate.
And the wing-nuts will be on the opposing side of women's rights and choice.
Once abortion does become overturned, the evangelists and religious right wing-nuts will no longer have a major rallying issue to continue maintaining their allegiance with the Republican Party. The dream goal has been achieved. The Republicans do not have another social wedge issue that is as contentious or emotional as abortion--not gay marriage, or creationism, or flag burning. And just as the legalization of abortion has sedated the Democratic Party over the past 25 years, the banning of abortion may just sedate the religious wing-nuts of the Republican Party. The Republicans are planting the seeds of their own destruction, as a party, just as they are providing a powerful rallying point for reorganizing and re-energizing the Democrats. That is the pushing the country towards one extreme end of the political spectrum. Sooner or later, the opposite end will start pushing back--hard. This South Dakota ban on abortion, and the possible Supreme Court upholding of this ban, will become a wake-up call for women, and pro-choice Americans. They will push back in a way that the Republican Party has not seen in 30 years.
It is only a matter of time.
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