PIERRE, S.D. - Voters will have the final say on a tough new law that bans almost all abortions in South Dakota.
Secretary of State Chris Nelson said Monday that the law's opponents had collected enough signatures to put a question on the November ballot asking voters if the law should go into effect as planned or be dumped.
The state's abortion law, among the strictest in the nation, bans the procedure in all cases except when necessary to save a woman's life, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
Supporters hoped it would prompt a court challenge that would give the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to overturn its 1973 Roe. v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. But instead, opponents, who argue the law is too extreme, gathered enough petition signatures to put the question directly to voters.
I think this is an indication that pro-abortion groups are afraid to take this law to court. The tactic typically employed by leftists such as this is to rely on some judge to impose his/her will on the populace, not to ask the populace itself what it thinks of an issue. This shift speaks to the success President Bush has had in sprinkling the federal judiciary (right on up to the Supreme Court) with originalists who aren't likely to hold the view that abortion exists as a right in the Constitution.
Ultimately, I think this will backfire on them. South Dakota may be the state that sent Tom Daschle to the Senate, but when it comes to social issues like abortion the citizens of the lesser Dakota are pretty conservative. All this vote will do is affirm that the ban on abortion passed by legislators is, in fact, an expression of the will of the people.