Pro-abortion groups target South Dakota pro-life initiative

16-08-2008

Washington DC, Aug 16, 2008 / 12:00 am (CNA).-
A South Dakota initiative on the November ballot that would ban
abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or a threat to the mother's
life has mobilized national abortion rights groups in opposition. The
groups see the state ballot's Initiated Measure 11 as a "first step" in
a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that
legalized abortion nationwide.

"Let's not kid ourselves," Nancy Keenan, executive director of NARAL
Pro-Choice America, told reporters at a press conference in Washington,
D.C. on Tuesday. "The people behind this effort [want] to make South
Dakota the first step in a long-term campaign to mount a legal
challenge to Roe."

According to Cybercast News Service, Keenan was joined by Cecile
Richards, who is president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union.

Richards said the initiative is a "cynical effort" to use South
Dakota to further their goal of challenging "the fundamental right of
women in this country that supported the right decision to make these
personal decisions."

A South Dakota proponent of the bill questioned the location of the press conference, which was held far from her home state.

"It seems desperate to me that they would hold a press conference in
Washington, D.C.," Leslee Unruh, a leader of the South Dakota
organization Vote Yes for Life, told Cybercast News Service.

Vote Yes for Life is the organization behind Initiated Measure 11,
South Dakota's third recent attempt to ban abortion. Two years ago
South Dakota voters rejected a referendum for a complete ban on
abortion by 56 percent to 44 percent.

Unruh explained that Initiated Measure 11 was drafted after
surveying voter opinion concerning why they voted against the 2006
ballot measure. Such surveys found that South Dakota voters did not
want to see abortion used as birth control and would accept a ban that
included exceptions for rape, incest, and cases where the life of the
mother is endangered.

She told Cybercast News Service that the ballot measure is "designed to go to the Supreme Court."

Unruh said national attention from pro-abortion groups could be counterproductive for Initiated Measure 11's opposition.

"Grassroots always trumps money in South Dakota," Unruh said.
"People in South Dakota don't like it if they think someone nationally
is trying to tell them what to do."