South Dakota Abortion Measure Goes Too Far

South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds

Abortion measure could mean big legal battle

Restrictions on abortion that would be the most severe since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the practice 33 years ago are likely to turn South Dakota into an expensive legal battleground should they become law.

Legislation on Republican Gov. Mike Rounds' desk would ban abortion in virtually all cases, punishing doctors who perform one with a $5,000 fine and five years in prison, and directly challenging what is currently the law of the land.

The measure would ban abortion if a woman was pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or if giving birth would damage the health of the mother. It would allow an abortion to save a woman's life.

Rounds indicated he would sign the proposal into law after scrutinizing it. He vetoed a similar provision two years ago on a technicality, although he favored it on merit.

"If the bill is correctly written, then I will seriously consider signing the bill. It would be a direct frontal assault on Roe vs. Wade," the Republican governor said on ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Saturday.

Even before he acts, there is money on the table. An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to help the state fight the inevitable legal battle for the measure, backers of the provision say. Abortion foes also are urging those in their camp to mail in donations of $10 each to Rounds for the same purpose.

While the intent of South Dakotan's with this bill may be just, I think it goes too far and will eventually be turned down by the courts due to Roe vs. Wade being current law and gut feeling that we don't yet have the votes to overturn it. Besides that, while I don't support Roe vs. Wade in any way, shape of form, I do support abortions in cases of rape or incest because I believe that the emotional suffrage from either act greatly impacts the ability to bear and raise a child. To make a woman feel obligated to bear a baby created due to an act of violation is wrong, unjust and tremendously insensitive. There's just no way around that.