Another abortion-ban bill heading for the Legislature
Lawmakers confirmed Friday that a bill banning most abortions in South Dakota will be introduced again in the Legislature, and it will contain exceptions for rape, incest and the health of women.
The Chief is NOT a fried of abortion, which in general, he considers to be a prime exemplar of what has appropriately been called “a culture of death” by Pope John Paul II. (DISCLAIMER: The Chief is not Roman Catholic.)
Overall from what is known of the proposal, it is better than nothing, but there is one major problem. The stated exceptions are for cases of rape, incest, and for the health of the mother.
As far as the rape and incest exceptions are concerned, they constitute the addition of chlorine to the gene pool. No problem to the Chief.
The area of concern is the bit about “health of the mother”. If this is not fairly specifically defined in the law, it opens up a hole big enough to drive a Peterbilt(r) through. There’s ALWAYS going to be Doctors and/or Psychiatrists that would be willing to say something like “the extra stress of pregnancy constitues some degree of threat to the overall health of the mother. Everyone knows that stress is evil, right?”
If Rep. Howie does define this term clearly and specifically, it MAY not be TOO bad. The devil will be in the details, visible when the details of the bill are released Monday.
Meanwhile, predictably enough, Kate Looby of Planned Parenthood Prevention of Parenthood misses the point of the November vote:
“The voters just spoke on this issue in November, and the message they were sending was, ‘We don’t want the government involved in this very personal, private family issue,’ and apparently, some of the legislators just can’t seem to stay out of private issues that families are facing and deal with,” Looby said.
Sorry Kate, what really happened was that many voters thought that Rep. Hunt’s no-exceptions act went too far…not that there was no place for legal limitations on pre-natal infanticide.
DEMOCRAT Rep. Mary Glenski has this about right:
The additional exceptions for rape, incest and the health of women are what voters want, state Rep. Mary Glenski, D-Sioux Falls, said. Glenski, who will be one of the sponsors of this year’s near-ban, doesn’t believe that voters are tired of the issue. She said it makes sense to bring the issue back because most South Dakotans oppose abortion. “I feel a real responsibility to try and respond to what the voters told us after the election,” Glenski said. “Many people said the lack of exceptions was the reason they voted against last year’s bill.”
The Chief awaits the details of Howie’s bill.