South Dakota: The Badlands of Reproductive Freedom

Planning a vacation to South Dakota? Don't forget to stop into a local women's health center and listen to a doctor who is being forced to read a court-ordered script to women who are seeking abortion services. The language of the script reads like a bad science fiction novel - but sadly it's not.

Effective immediately, doctors in South Dakota are being forced to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being." So, it's come to this - we now live in a country where the practice of medicine is fully in the hands of extremist politicians and judges. And we have the brilliant scholars of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, who recently lifted a preliminary injunction that prevented the language from taking effect, to thank for this.

And, that's not all ... Under the law, doctors must say that the woman has "an existing relationship" with the fetus that is protected by the U.S. Constitution and that "her existing constitutional rights with regards to that relationship will be terminated." Also, the doctor is required to say that "abortion increases the risk of suicide ideation and suicide." The message must be delivered no earlier than two hours before the procedure. The woman must say in writing that she understands.

Really, doesn't that read like a bad science fiction novel? Trouble is it contains 0% science and 100% ideology!

Let's help preserve justice, dignity and rights in South Dakota - take the pledge and stand-up for South Dakota.

And stay tuned - because South Dakota will once again try to ban abortion when they put the issue to a referendum on November4th, 2008.

South Dakota - truly the Badlands of Reproductive Freedom!