S.D. Legislature Clears Abortion Bill to Challenge 'Roe'

S.D. Legislature Clears Abortion Bill to Challenge 'Roe'

PIERRE, S.D., Feb. 24 -- South Dakota lawmakers approved a ban on nearly all abortions Friday, setting up a deliberate assault on Roe v. Wade at a time when some activists see the Supreme Court as more willing than ever to overturn the 33-year-old decision. Gov. Mike Rounds (R) said he is inclined to sign the bill, which would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless it is necessary to save the woman's life. The measure would make no exception in cases of rape or incest.

Many opponents and supporters of abortion rights believe that the Supreme Court is more likely to overturn the 1973 Roe decision, which legalized abortion nationwide, now that conservatives John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. are on the bench. Lawmakers said growing support among South Dakotans for abortion restrictions added momentum to the bill.

It did not take long for the ultra-conservatives to gear up to take advantage of the loss of reason on the SCOTUS. Alito's role has taken on new meaning: he is now the darling child of every anti-abortion ultra-conservative in the country. We will soon find out if we are going to have a system where some states get to dictate what happens between a patient and doctor, some states that will recognize that there is no compelling interest in interferring with personal privacy and medical decisions, and some states that are somwhere in between... and a scorecard to figure out what is what. Soon we may have prosecutions and civil suits that claim it was illegal for a person to leave an anti-abortion state, travel to a pro-abortion state, have an abortion and return to the state of origin. It sounds like a straw-man argument, but I see the slippery slope in front of us.