Lawmakers who backed South Dakota's abortion ban now say they're receiving death threats. South Dakota state Rep. Roger Hunt pushed ahead with the bill in spite of nasty opposition in the House. Now he says he and his family are getting harassing phone calls.Abortion advocates threatening and harassing South Dakota lawmakers is no different, and no better, than pro-life advocates harrassing and threatening abortion doctors. Let's pray that these are just threats, and that nothing substantial comes from this.
Only in America could the outcome of an election in such a small state--South Dakota's population is only about 775,000--have so many moral and political consequences for the rest of the country.Indeed!
...if such a ban can't pass in an extremely conservative state as South Dakota, it's hard to imagine that it could pass anywhere...I would like to point out that our Senator Tim Johnson and our Represenative Stephanie Herseth are both Democrats, although yes, overall we are a conservative state compared to much of the nation.
Before Roe v. Wade, one of the states where it was commonly known that an abortion was easy to obtain was California, which had a model penal-code law that said that in order to get an abortion you had to have been raped or be in medical need owing to health complications. But, according to state law, “health” included mental health. So there were certain psychiatrists who would give a pro-forma sign-off on an abortion.This is a good explaination of why exemptions for the health of the mother do not protect unborn children. While most people would like to believe that protecting the health of pregnant women is a good thing (which it indeed is), an exemption like this has a history of being a glaring loophole for continued legalized abortions. All a woman would need to do is get a doctor to sign a form saying her health was threatened--which would probably be fairly easy to do at an abortion clinic--and the abortion could continue legally.
Remember that for many, especially on the religious right, abortion and contraception are no different. What they really want is to control the reproductive choices we all make in accordance with their particular ideas.This is a common argument I keep hearing from abortion advocates, although it puzzles me. I have no idea where they are getting that idea. My wife (who is more pro-life than I am, if that's possible) uses contraception. In fact I don't know anyone--Christian or not--who opposes contraception, and I've never heard it preached against in the pulpit.
...the Alliance Defense Fund is telling churches that they're ok. And the ADF is willing to defend it.This is great news for South Dakota churches. The pro-abortion advocates have tried to bully churches to stay silent, but we can praise the Lord that this tactic will not work.
"When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." (Luke 1:41-44, NIV, emphasis added)In this passage, the word "baby" is translated from the original Greek word βρέφος, which means "an unborn or a newborn child." A modern definition of βρέφος would be "infant." There is no distinction in this word between the unborn child and the newborn child. In the Bible there are no fetuses, there are only babies--capable of emotion--whether born or unborn.
I agree 100%.This is a terribly risky move– for the pro-abortion group. For one, pro-life seems like it has a lot of support in this state... I don’t thing this was a good tactical move on the pro-abortion side.
Unruh, now 51 and a mother and grandmother, has been haunted by the thoughts of who her unborn child could have become. She vowed to prevent other women from making the same choice she did.
"I was driven by the women that I've worked with over the years - women who were not warned about the dangers of abortion and had a right to have their child," she said.
And now she is the closest she has ever gotten to a full-blown abortion ban in South Dakota - HB1215, which is on the ballot for voters to decide in November.
Unruh is on a mission to spread the word. She is traveling throughout the state in a mobile pregnancy center she calls "the fleet for little feet."
The bus, which she manages, is equipped with a portable sonogram machine, volunteers and educational materials. Unruh holds rallies to spread the message.
"It's a pregnancy care center on wheels," Unruh said. "We have women on board to discuss how to prevent teen pregnancies and sexual integrity. We are about educating women about their choices."
In South Dakota, "if the vote were today, I think they would overturn the law," said David Kranz, longtime political writer for the Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls. "But the pro-life people are much more organized, by a long shot."
Showing love to South Dakota's unborn children by advocating their right to life...
