ON THE CUTTING EDGE: Is Abortion Still “The Third Rail” In Politics?
South Dakota voters rejected an abortion ban that had been passed by the Republican state legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Rounds by a whopping 12-point margin (56 to 44 percent). No ambiguity there: voters wanted to keep abortion legal.
The outcome was admittedly disappointing to The Stiletto, who was hoping that the people of the state would send a clear message to the rest of the nation – and to the Supreme Court - that an unborn child is more than just a clump of cells that can be destroyed at the mother’s whim.
Political analyst Michael
If a state as conservative as South Dakota rejects an abortion ban, which state will impose one? Not very many; quite possibly none. …
Prolifers should learn from South Dakota that they aren't going to be able to ban abortion entirely, at least not in any but a few small places. Prochoicers should be noticing that the restrictions that legislatures have been placing on abortion do not prevent abortions from being generally and widely available. … And so it may be that the abortion issue will be less of a motive force, on both sides, in our politics.
If something good is to come from “the will of the people” deciding that abortion is an acceptable form of birth control, rather than the Supreme Court creating and imposing a “right” to the procedure by judicial fiat it is this: Perhaps extremists on both sides of the issue can lay down their rhetorical swords so that a middle ground between unrestricted abortion and abortion bans can emerge.
If state legislatures in all 50 states passed – and courts turned away challenges to – laws requiring parental notification when a minor child seeks an abortion; limiting abortions to the first trimester in most cases; and defining a limited number of unambiguous physical and mental health issues that would make second or third-trimester abortions medically necessary, The Stiletto could live with it. And so could the vast majority of Americans who are pro-life or pro-abortion.
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