South Dakota Lawmakers Stomp on Women's Rights

In their passage of a new law banning all abortions except in the case of the mother’s physical health, the South Dakota legislature is dragging women back into the dark ages. If the governor signs the bill, the new law will be challenged which could make it to the Supreme Court and possibly overturn the three decades old Roe V Wade decision. 

Prior to Roe V Wade, abortions were either limited to the “life of the mother” standard, or no allowed at all. The Supreme Courts ruling meant that individual states could not force a women to have a child, because it did not have the right to interfere with her right to determine the issue for herself. The court did not use the rhetoric or public displays of support by either side of the issue to make its decision. Instead the justices used the Constitution of the United States as the basis for their ruling. To my knowledge, the Constitution has not changed. 

What the Supreme Court did in its decision was to free women, rich and poor, from back alley abortions that threatened the life of the woman. It saved them from potential black mail. And it saved rape and incest victims from having to carry to term and raise a child whose conception was not of their choice and a horrific event in their lives. North Dakota’s legislature would ban abortion in cases of rape and incest, and potentially allow rapist to have a part in the child’s life with full parental rights. This would force women to deal with the rapist repeatedly. For the women it would be like being raped over and over again.