South Dakota agonizes over broad abortion ban

‘Two wrongs don’t make a right’
Barnett, in a telephone interview, expressed empathy with women in comparable plights, but said abortion shouldn’t be an option.  “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” she said. “It’s a baby, whether you’re raped or not. You need a choice both you and your baby can live with.”

The ban’s supporters note that the measure allows rape and incest victims to get emergency contraception, which is effective if taken within 72 hours. Opponents say emergency contraception isn’t widely available in South Dakota, and argue that many victims are too overwrought to seek prompt help.

“It’s a sham,” Nicolay said of the contraception provision. She noted that anti-abortion lawmakers quashed a measure this year that would have required hospitals to inform raped women that emergency contraception is available.

One of the legislators responsible for the toughly worded measure is House Majority Leader Larry Rhoden, a Republican cattle rancher. He was swayed by women’s testimony that their abortions left emotional scars, but now — aware of polls showing his side behind — he has second thoughts.

“I’ve spent a great deal of time and thought wondering if it would have been wiser to write in the exceptions,” he said. “We have a long row to hoe based on the numbers I’ve seen.”

Debating a private matter out loud
In some ways, South Dakota is an odd venue for the showdown. It has had no resident abortion provider for 10 years, and most of its 800 or so annual abortions are performed at an often-picketed Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls by doctors flying in once a week from Minnesota.

Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood’s Minnesota/Dakotas chapter, said even people on the sidelines of the abortion debate rallied to help the petition drive after lawmakers approved the ban.

“It was a political moment like I’ve never seen, a spontaneous uprising of grass-roots fury,” she said. “Abortion isn’t a subject people normally discuss, but this has forced ordinary mainstream people to talk about it.”

A case in point is Wessington Springs, a town of 1,000 where pride in its seven churches and Shakespearean Gardens mingles with worries over business failures and an exodus of young people.

Tom Dean, whose family’s local roots date to 1882, and his wife, Kathy, a nurse-midwife, decided to serve on the anti-ban campaign’s statewide board, then placed a small ad in the local paper explaining their stance.

“We were a little concerned — not for our safety, but of offending our friends,” said Kathy Dean, a longtime abortion-rights supporter.

A question of choice
For several years, the Deans have hosted a monthly discussion group, broaching an array of topics. Its members recently convened to wrestle with the abortion ban.

Near the end, after listening in silence, Evelyn Bradley spoke out.

“Life isn’t always black and white,” said Bradley, the wife of an Air Force retiree. “There are situations where it would be really difficult to have another child, and I’d resent the law saying you have to have it. Shouldn’t I be allowed to make that choice?”

The issue has been raised at the town’s Roman Catholic church by the priest, Jim Friedrich, who fervently supports the ban.

“So far no one (in the parish) has spoken against it,” he said quietly in his rectory. “The way I spoke, I doubt they’d have the guts to tell me otherwise.”

John Paulson, minister at nearby Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, takes a different tack.

“We can’t read God’s mind on this,” he said. “As pastor, I’d support people voting their conscience with a prayerful heart.”

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