The South Dakota Senate has passed a bill that bans abortion in all cases except when a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life. The vote was 23-12. It now goes back to the House, where they will have to decide whether to accept amendments. The Governor has said that he will not commit to signing the bill until he sees its final form. But, he will sign it.
Take your blood-pressure medication.
Republican Sen. Bill Napoli of Rapid City said, “This bill is as straight forward and as honest as it can be. It just says no more abortions unless the life of the mother is threatened.”
Republican Sen. Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls said, “This bill ends up being cold, indifferent and as hostile as any great prairie blizzard that this state has ever seen.”
Democrat Sen. Julie Bartling of Burke said the time is right for the ban on abortion.
“In my opinion, it is the time for this South Dakota Legislature to deal with this issue and protect the rights and lives of unborn children,” she said during the Senate’s debate. “There is a movement across this country of the wishes to save and protect the lives of unborn children.”
Republican Sen. Stan Adelstein of Rapid City had tried to amend the bill to include an exception for abortions for victims of rape. The amendment lost 14-21.
“To require a woman who has been savaged to carry the brutal attack result is a continued savagery unworthy of South Dakota,” he said.
Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck of Watertown objected.
Rape should be punished severely, he said, but the amendment is unfair to “some equally innocent souls who have no chance to stand and defend themselves.”
NYT
My parents are from SDak originally. It’s somewhat of an iconoclastic state, but this is definitely a wrong turn on the part of their legislature.
In an email from a friend who went to school there:
yep.
Well said. I worked in South Dakota for three years. It is the most racist state in the union. I live in Mississippi now, and lived in Louisiana for 8 years so that designation for SoDak is not a good one.
Righties want to protect a theoretical human being because it is the only kind of human being they actually care about. It’s amazing to me that the pro lifers actually care so little about actual as opposed to potential life. If they cared about actual human beins they would be concerned for all those issues you listed.
Optimistic about the recent changes on the United States Supreme Court
That’s the kicker for me.
They got off to a roaring start during Alito’s first real week on the job, didn’t they? First the PBA, and now an unconstitutional law to use to overturn Roe.
they have raging healthcare-paid viagra-induced boners over this one
Not to mention the continued queer-bashing and the new fervor with which they’re trying to outlaw queer families all across the country, certain that SCOTUS will uphold all of these equally unconstitutional laws.
Bartling
Koetzle
Moore
Klouceck
Peterson
Dan Sutton
Nerdified Link
I guess that means it’s time to start polishing up the rhetoric again.
Let’s see, what do we have in the cupboard…
Talibangelists.
Christo-fascists.
Reich wing.
What else?
Personally, I tend to think of them as products of neither evolution nor intelligent design.
(Now, let’s see if I can shorten this to a snappy sound-byte!)
I simply don’t understand the world these people inhabit. It’s certainly foreign to me (if not of a different galaxy altogether).
What do they imagine, in their fondest dreams, as the ultimate results of their efforts? Is there actually any vision in that regard — or is it all pure emotionalism, without even the slightest consciousness?
It seems to be a combination of an honest belief that banning abortions will fix things, a desire to “do the right thing”, and a desire to punish sinful women.
Exact proportions vary from individual to individual.
I sense that your assessment is correct, Egarwaen. Imho, this is a matter of pure emotionality, with no thought as to how ‘fixing things’, ‘doing the right thing’ & ‘punishment’ will impact actual, flesh & blood lives.
The same applies to their White House enablers, actually, with regard to every instituted policy both foreign and domestic. There is no reality beyond the completely immediate & subjective. It’s very child-like.
Great screen name. I’m cynical about Republican Party motives on all social issues. They don’t really give a shit about abortion, same sex marriage, etc. etc. etc. I can’t remember the Party hack’s name who said that all these social issues are good for is to be dusted off every 2 years to fire up the Christo-fascist wing so that they will vote against their self-interest.
My wife’s mother loves George Bush because she thinks he’s her kind of Christian. But she can’t afford her medications and she gets about $85.00 a month Social Security thanks to Reagan’s “adjustment.” She is exactly the kind of dupe the Republicans count on to stay in office, and they have an incredible noise machine of Falwell types and Hannity types to get the message out to the lemmings.
America’s only hope is that somehow we can return to an educated electorate; hence, the Republican push for home schooling and intelligent design. I need a beer.
Booman,
I think the title of this diary should read:
South Dakota Moving Backward With Abortion Ban
Seconded!
I’m just flat sick of it. Only one in 10 women has a big mouth because those are the big mouth odds that genetically get thrown into the gene pool. 30% of women are people who will champion issues and about 40% align with a side for safety purposes. Go ahead you fuckers! The up to now silent majority is gonna burn this country down if you even think you are going to attempt this shit!!!!! Fucking Men who will never ever know the feeling of illness, inability to work to feed oneself, helplessness, horror over discovering that not only have you been raped or molested but now you are pregnant by the perp, or have their life and health threatened by a pregnancy think they are gonna shove this one down our throats while they pet their token legislative bitches on the head…..We’ll dry up the pussy in this land for fucking ever you bastards! We’ll make you all so sorry in so many ways you ever attempted to make us your birthing beasts and fuck dollys you’ll need therapy for the rest of your lives! You bastards had better get to really liking your own hand, cuz mine looks better and better every single day and it is 100% risk free and always more fun than fucking an abusive self important dictatorial bastard from hell!
Just wait until he’s the only Bush anybody is getting! Everybody might begin to really care what that Bush says and what that Bush does when he’s the only Bush in town! It’s about time that Bush was as closely scrutinized as my Bush anyhow…..why should my Bush have all the damn fun!
There is a play written by some ancient Greek person with the subject of war. The women of Athens (I think) decide the war is ridiculous and decide that there will be no nooky until the men end the war.
In the seventies I yelled “Power to the People.” Today I stand in solidarity with you….”Power to the Pussy.”
I think this picture that Damnit Janet took at the Sept. 24th March in DC fits here.
No Choice No Pussy! No Pussy for Pussies! Anybody who creates a way to make their reproductive counterpart a second class citizen is already a pussy so why would he need another one? Talk to your hand buddy cuz the face over here don’t understand!
The play you’re thinking of is Lysistrata.
That’s it. Thanks. Interesting how timeless some things are.
Is there really any way that this would be found constitutional, even under the current court?
From what I know of the SCOTUS justices, there are still 5 who uphold the basic tenets of Roe v. Wade : Breyer, Stevens, Ginsberg, Souter, and Kennedy.
Is that incorrect? I know that Kennedy is opposed to certain late-term abortion procedures, but that he generally agrees with a woman’s right to an abortion.
I guess it will be a while before this would make it all the way up to the Supreme Court, so we need Stevens to make it that long, or to have a Democrat in office when he leaves.
Also, despite what a lot of people think, I am not totally convinced that Roberts would vote to overturn Roe. You can flame me if you want for that…it is just a feeling I have with no real rational basis.
NOT that I’m saying it is something I would bet on…
Overturning Roe isn’t the only problem with losing rights. Here, go check out The Coming Decimation of Abortion Rights by Ampersand at Alas about how he thinks Roe will probably be left standing while the right to have an abortion will be effectively blocked for most women by various other legislative maneuvering.
Thanks for the link…I had not seen that before.
I agree that losing Roe isn’t the only problem, but in the current context (this SD bill) I believe some of the legislators who passed it say that eventually challenging Roe is part of their goal in passing it. I was just saying that I think that they are trying to grab too much, and that this effort is going to be smacked down (at this time).
But you are definitely right, that we can’t get too focused on Roe, when all the parental notification, TRAP laws, etc., are already doing the dirty work of making abortion completely inaccessible. And these things are going on now, not in some future epic supreme court battle.
I was just saying that I think that they are trying to grab too much, and that this effort is going to be smacked down (at this time).
I believe they’re deliberately trying to grab too much although they are grabbing onto what the leadership of the ‘lets turn women into breeding livestock’ movement actually wants besides an end to effective contraception. I think they’re trying for a revision of Roe which disallows all abortions except those which are a direct result of a criminally prosecuted rape or incest. They would like to live in a society where the moderate viewpoint on reproductive rights is ’12 year old girls whose fathers have fucked them shouldn’t be forced to carry children to term.”
If they don’t have enough votes this time, they will after Casey or Santorum helps appoint the next SCOTUS justice. Right now they’re just counting votes and the enthusiasm of the new court for taking on abortion related issues does not bode well.
Please do not tell us that we’re being alarmist; some of us have been paying close attention to this issue and the religious right for decades and the ‘abortion is an albatross on the ‘big tent’ Democratic party’ faction have been consistently and stupidly wrong. We’re rather past the time that an effective rebuttal is ‘listen to the voice of reason and vote for Casey’ and well onto the time when any Democratic voter should be doing some serious thinking about what they’re going to do about all those children and their mothers. “work at Burger King” does not cut it.
it so it isn’t blatantly unconstitutional and immediately tossed out leaving SD with no abortion legislation at all. They already have some pretty tough legislation there concerning abortion. They have pushed States rights to the max. They are probably shooting for State’s rights again. We will know shortly how Roberts is going to vote on this. One thing I know for damn sure though is that over at the big orange, after this goes down there ain’t gonna be “vote for the antichoice guy and we promise it’ll be alright” shit anymore!
My very inelegant and spur of the moment response, submitted via this web form:
http://legis.state.sd.us/email/index.aspx?FuseAction=MemberID&MemberID=349
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Dear Ms. Bartling,
Quit pretending to be a Democrat. Go over to the Republican party. We don’t need Democrats like you.
Since you are so concerned for the lives of unborn children, I eagerly await your actions with regards to improving the lives of the born children in this country, about 18% of which live below the poverty level.
BTW the official poverty level, of about $20,000 for a family of 4, is actually grossly understated as it is estimated that a family of 4 actually requires at least about $35,000 per year to subsist at anything remotely resembling a liveable standard. This of course means there are in fact MANY MORE children living in inadequate conditions than official statistics represent.
And also, could this web form message box be any smaller? We understand that you folks obviously don’t want to hear from the public beyond campaign donations, but too bad. We are out here. You work for us and we can fire you.
I will be giving my campaign contributions to your opponents come the next election.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
These people are just too used to complacency, they don’t expect to feel any reprecussions for thier actions. I would urge people to contact these folks and give them a piece of your mind, and if it sounds kind of sloppy and angry, well that’s okay. They need to understand that actions have consequences, We let them get away with this stuff over and over and they don’t give a second thought to us out here while they go off to their corporate-sponsored dinners.
I agree. I also think contacting the SD tourism board, or whatever they have there, would be a good thing. Whoever it is that sets up their conventions and so on, as well.
Actions, as they say, have consequences.
I think as we move closer to the mid-terms we should target some of these people and donate to their opponents like you say. You’re right that they’ve had nothing to fear till now but their actions and their state now have the dubious honor as the birthplace of the biggest assault against women in this country in years.
A bit of history:
I once worked with a woman who was very active in NARAL politics. She invited me to all of the NARAL meetings she held in Seattle.
I went when I was about seven months preggers with Darcy … felt kind of a little bit weird to be this waaaaaaaay-out-there-pregnant woman at a meeting about abortion rights. But it also made ALL the sense in the world.
I CHOSE to have Darcy. I’d want the right to choose otherwise, even though I’d only want that right theoretically … i.e., I couldn’t bring myself to have an abortion. But I support the inalienable right of every woman to make that choice herself.
in college, I was Prochoice and I was 8 months pregnant with my daughter when I did the final one. It isn’t about abortions/nobody wakes up and says yippee I get to have an abortion today…….it is about choice…….it is about being in charge of ones self……and is about not being enslaved!
CALiberal’s unbelievably poignant post here makes me feel compelled to add that it was not easy to be pregnant in my 30s without a husband and without money. Among the unending things I debated in my mind throughout my pregnancy:
How would i care for this child? What possible means of support could I find? How could I work and leave this child in daycare all day, or even pay for daycare?
How could I be a mother? I had no clue about being a mother. I went to the library and looked it all up .. and found books … and bought those books, and read them forwards and backwards, over and over and over again. Then I read that La Leche League was good, and those women SHOWED ME how to be a mother. (I had NO knowledge of their style of mothering, and their ways instantly, instinctively felt right … but their ways are also very, very demanding on the mother, and require copious amounts of time, energy, loving even when one is so tired one can’t see straight.)
How could I accept her father’s offer of marriage when I wasn’t sure I trusted him because, even though he was a veterinarian and owned his practice, he was erratic and I had a hunch he was taking drugs? And, if he was taking drugs, would that affect Darcy? And how could I trust someone to see her, hold her, visit her, take her away for visits if he were taking drugs?
And how could i accept any money from him if that also entailed he be able to take her for visits if i worried he was taking drugs?
(Years later, all my worries — damn my overpowering at times instinctive senses — turned out to be true. Through a client who was a PI, I found out he’d lost his license and had been watched for a long time by the police.)
And then there was my mother who was HORRIFIED. And all she could talk about was what her friends would think of her daughter having a child out of wedlock … and her screaming at me alll the time to GET AN ABORTION! THAT’S WHAT OTHER WOMEN WOULD DO! But I couldn’t. That time.
It is not easy.
The endless worrying. The trying to figure out solutions to seemingly insoluble problems. …
some said, “Go to welfare … they’ll help.” I went. They immediately wanted all the information on her father. Because they’d go after him for support. And I walked out. Because that was a complication that made me too afraid. So, I just typed whatever people brought me to type — unendingly boring documents, sometimes some fun ones, on a 1982 KayPro II without a hard drive and a DOS-based desktop publishing program that came with a manual only a programmr-type could understand. And a daisywheel printer that constantly became uncalibrated and required constant repair. And it was hell. Her baby years are all a blur because I was so damn tired all the time… sometimes I was so tired, I saw things out of the corner of my eyes that weren’t there. Nearly hallucinating from pure fatigue is not fun.
I’m so glad now. But, it was never easy. It was never as much fun as I wish it had been. And I wish I remembered more. It was so hard. (With the, oh, I wish she’d stop crying, oh, I can’t hold you know I have to work so we can live … and on and on….)
you guys survived a lot together!
Yes, and thanks … lots of scary times. Lots of HUNGRY times.
P.S. How come I didn’t get the kind of baby that sleeps a lot? Huh?
the less they sleep. Too many things to see and touch and too many questions to have answered.
I’m tired so I hope what I have to say makes sense.
I’m tired because I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept waking up and staring at my scars which were barely visible from the night light next to my bed.
As I watched the Olympics last night I couldn’t concentrate. My eyes invariably went back, time and again, to the scars.
I remember so clearly what the doctor said to me when I woke up in the hospital. He told me the scars would never go away, that when I looked at them they would remind me how close I had come to the end of my life.
He was wrong, when I look at the scars it never crosses my mind how close I had come to death. When I look at the scars I’m reminded of the end of my childhood dreams. I’m reminded of how many things ended in those days and months. I’m reminded of the terror I felt, the horror of not being in charge, the outrage felt by others shaping my future.
When I look at the scars on my wrist I see the utter desperation and the loss of dreams suffered from being forced into something I never wanted nor had any knowledge of. Motherhood hit me like a trainwreck that shattered my hopes and dreams. Forced motherhood left me bereft. Forced motherhood left me despondent and it left me wanting, wanting the life I would have had if I had had a choice.
My son was still a toddler when I went into the kitchen and used the knife to cut the arteries in my wrist that left the scars I’ve been staring at the past couple of days. The scars that don’t remind me of how close I came, the scars that remind me every single day of the gut wrenching and terrifying reality when women and young girls don’t own our bodies. The scars speak to me of those horrible days after I realized I was pregnant. The scars scream to me of battles lost before they had even been waged. The scars are the voice of a kind of violence against women and young girls. The kind of violence that hides behind women not having a choice.
Those very same scars make me weep for all the women and young girls who will be made to give birth when they’re not ready to have a child. Those very scars will be seen on the wrists of women who can see no other way. Those are the visible scars, the scars on our hearts and souls are there for a lifetime also.
This is the land of the free except if you’re a woman or a young girl. This is a democracy except if you’re a woman or a young girl. This is a country that prides itself on justice except what’s just for a woman or young girl. There is a Declaration of Independence except if you are a woman or a young girl. There is liberty except if you are a woman or a young girl.
For those who doubt if this is all true, rest assured, we have the scars to prove it.
Please write this as a diary so we may feature it. If you can.
Otherwise, all I can say is that I am moved beyond words. And send you a huge hug, and wishes that you may sleep as peacefully as you deserve tonight.
Thank you Susan. I’ll try to write it in a diary. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep restfully for a very long time. I know I’m not alone in that. My hope is that America can’t sleep until all of this is made right again so the rights that belong to women, the rights that should be our birthright, are ours because it is just that they be so.
I stand beside you Cali, with my own set of scars, some of which are visible, most that are not, unless you count a body worn and disabled long before it’s time from the hard,relentless work and self sacrifice that is required in order to be soley responsible for the lives of children from birth to adulthood.
It wasn’t a democracy for me either. It was socially mandated servitude to my given roles of goodmother, goodwife, dutiful daughter, and selfless church/communnity volunteer. Oh, and breadwinner as well.
When my first grand daughter was born 24 year ago, I rejoiced in how much better a world I was leaving her. My second grandaughter was born nine months ago, and I am scared to death what kind of a world it will be for her.
Well now, let’s take a look at what just took place. Democratic Senator Julie Bartling – and several of her Democratic cohorts – voted to ban abortions in SD. So, what’s the problem? The results of this vote seem to align with the “flawless” new direction of the Democratic party, as endorsed and promoted by the likes of Markos and his ilk.
Under this newly hyped political strategy, we’re not supposed to give a damn about a candidate’s personal values and platforms . . . as long as that candidate is viewed as “electable” (and has a “D” after their name). And once those candidates (and their problematic platforms) are in office, none of us need worry, because we’ve been assured – ever so convincingly – that those candidates will support progressive values and platforms . . . as soon as they’re elected. As we’ve all been told, the Democratic Party merely needs to gain the majority – and then we can all rest assured that our civil liberties will remain intact. No matter what those “electable” candidates may stand for.
Fuck the endorsement of “electable” Democrats at all costs. We’ve just witnessed those costs, and the consequences to our civil rights. And it ain’t over.
All Democrats, libertarians, independents, or anyone of a political persuasion other than Republican should REJOICE!
Nothing will bring about the destruction of the Republican/Neocon Party faster or more assuredly than overturning Roe v. Wade. I say stand back, shut the f*ck up, and let them self-destruct utterly behind this.
It has been a while since I last saw stats on this, but the last time I did the American public overwhelming supported a woman’s right to choose, including Republican women. Good Lord, let them have their way! Give ’em what they want! Let the new Supremes show their true colors! Any thinking Republican knows this; even Bush acknowledged that a woman should have the right to choose before he became the ultimate suck-up to the rabid right!
This is manna from heaven, and we need all the help we can get. If Rethugs want to shoot themselves in the foot, I say let’s load the gun for them and encourage them to set their sights a little higher and Dick Cheney themselves!
While I sort of agree that the overturning of RvW would probably result in Republicans losing some elections, the price is absolutely too high.
This is a fight where slow progress is preferrable to 5 steps back before 7 forward. Unfortunately, momentum is going the wrong way right now…that is not an excuse to let it slide further for the sake of a hypothetical victory in the future.