All your womb are belong to us

South Dakota passes abortion ban

1 hour, 49 minutes ago

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (Reuters) - South Dakota became the first U.S. state to pass a law banning abortion in virtually all cases, with the intention of forcing the Supreme Court to reconsider its 1973 decision legalizing the procedure.

The law, which would punish doctors who perform the operation with a five-year prison term and a $5,000 fine, awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Michael Rounds and people on both sides of the issue say he is unlikely to veto it.

...

Proposed amendments to the law to create exceptions to specifically protect the health of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest, were voted down. Also defeated was an amendment to put the proposal in the hands of voters.

I've always been upset that I missed out on the dark ages. How lucky that they're coming back.

I wonder how many rape babies and dead mothers it'll take to repeal the law...

Dark ages is right Chip...

Good. It's about damn time someone else got a taste of the morality stick.

Now maybe this country will wake up.

"Also defeated was an amendment to put the proposal in the hands of voters."

Heaven forbid citizens have a say in their lives...

*sigh*

the dark ages is back alright... sick

It won't stick, it's just a rallying cry for the republicans who want to energise their fundementalist base.

They are drawing lines in the sand because, as in Iran, Iraq etc etc the more extreme religious nuts are getting the votes, probably because many think this is the 'end times' and fence sitters are being left in the dust.

Bush is, incredibly, going to be considered a 'moderate' by the time the next presidental elections come about because it's going to take a huge leap of faith to get people to vote for a republican again unless a literal miracle happens, but what they CAN do is get people to forget about the facts and concentrate on their fears of satan and all that crap so they are gathering material for the campaigns such as 'I was for the ban on abortion that we nearly had a law until the liberals forced it to be repealed, my opponant obviously wants to kill babies because he was against the ban' etc etc

too bad the democrats suck ass and we'll have some douchbag like Kerry again or a numbnuts like Gore, I really hope someone worth a crap will run....

South Dakota passes abortion ban

1 hour, 49 minutes ago

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (Reuters) - South Dakota became the first U.S. state to pass a law banning abortion in virtually all cases, with the intention of forcing the Supreme Court to reconsider its 1973 decision legalizing the procedure.

The law, which would punish doctors who perform the operation with a five-year prison term and a $5,000 fine, awaits the signature of Republican Gov. Michael Rounds and people on both sides of the issue say he is unlikely to veto it.

...

Proposed amendments to the law to create exceptions to specifically protect the health of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest, were voted down. Also defeated was an amendment to put the proposal in the hands of voters.

Okay, I'm anti-abortion myself, but I do recognize and see that certain situations justify abortion, like rape/incest and protection of the health of the mother. o_o Talk about extremes. Haven't these people ever thought of the word "middle ground"?

the whole banning abortion thing is a tool to get the votes, trust me, it will not stick, it will be stopped by lawyers and then the republicans can get sympathy and make the democrats look like baby killers.

You can't morally be for war and against abortion yet republicans justify this don't they? killing is killing.

Babies can be converted.

Once you are out of the womb, all bets are off.

I would like to introduce legislation that prevents pregnant women from going on hunting trips with Dick Cheney.

I was going to compliment you on a really incisive way of looking at the perverse logic of those who would ban until I realized how little effort and care they exhibit to all those children of god they they work so fervently to save.

Just when you think a group of demagogues can't get any more hypocritical, they surprise you. Sneaky bastards!

This from the person who a few days ago posted a rant on how sick of hearing about that you were.

Well, even then South Dakotans voted in the last election to get rid of Tom Daschle, Senate Minority Leader and South Dakota's only political claim to fame/power/whatever, to replace him with fresh off the farm Republican John Thune (who, btw, went hunting with Cheney in Murdo, SD, four days after the election--a damned missed opportunity if you ask me <grin>

Give South Dakotans the decision on this: it's 50/50 they'd vote to ban abortion. RED STATE. bleh

That was fucking hillarious.

This makes me sick

I remember seeing back in the 70s an oral history project where women who had gone through illegal abortions were interviewed and videotaped. So many of the stories were heartbreaking. The story of a woman who had been repeatedly raped and impregnated by her step-father still haunts me.

These weren't well-off women going off to private clinics to have "theraputic D&Cs" (the code name for abortion if you could afford it). These were mostly middle-class, working class, and poor women between a rock and a hard place. Abortion has never been illegal if you have enough money and connections. Oh.. and that doesn't count the "spaying" that routinely went on in Reservation hospitals.

Remember that contraception was difficult to get too. Doctors could and did refuse to prescribe to unmarried women, and pharmacists like to flex their "moral" muscle too. Getting condoms in a small town if you were a teenager was nigh to impossible.

If you've been following the news, then the self-righeous pharmacist should be familiar - again we have those who refuse to dispense birth control saying it's against their beliefs. I wonder if anyone would except that argument if a pharmacist refused to dispense other drugs, using their beliefs as the excuse.

If this country truely cared about the unborn, then we would have national health insurance so every pregnant woman could get pre-natal care. We would have safe and affordable day care. Or maybe like some European countries, we would have extended paid maternity leaves so that both parents could spent the first couple of years with their child (since the right thinks day care is immoral too). We would have well funded Head Start programs and WIC programs (the only 2 government funded programs that repeatedly show that they are effective - hence they are gonna get funding slashed). We wouldn't have children going to bed hungry because Republicans count ketchup as a vegetable.

Some days I buy into the conspiracy theories. That banning abortion is all about having white American babies for wealthy couples to adopt and plenty of McDonald workers. Other days I recognize that it's all about $$ and political power.

OK, this subject makes me want to nuke the world because humans are sorry shits and if there is a God, you really screwed up in my opinion.

I need to go take the taste of this out of my mouth

I find it ironic (and completely disturbing) that the same people who've been complaining about "activist judges" are now passing laws they know damn well are unconstitutional and will end up before the supreme court so they can try out the activist judges Bush installed on the court for them.

It's about time Roe V Wade got challenged, in any event.

What I find ironic is that the same people who have been complaining about "racial profiling" and "stereotyping" are now complaining about letting a country from the middle east in to our port relationships because of fears of a terrorist attack, but there you go. Irony is a fickle thing. That's a topic for another thread anyhoo.

I agree with you on the irony of the port issue. Wheee election years are fun! *cough*

Why?


yes it is. In the future, please leave it there or I'll tell Neehai on you

Because it's bad law, in a legal sense.

Killing children is wrong, period.

Please don't let this thread spiral off into "What defines a child, what defines killing a child", as it so easily could.