When South Dakota's paternalistic governor signed that state's new abortion law this year, I wrote him a letter assuring him that his state would never see a penny of my family's tourism spending. Today, Governor Michael Round sent me a reply that turns my stomach.
House Bill 1215 passed South Dakota's legislature with bipartisan sponsorship and strong bipartisan support in both houses, and I have signed it into law. Its purpose is to eliminate most abortions in South Dakota. It allows doctors to perform abortions in order to save the life of the mother. It does not prohibit the taking of contraceptive drugs before a pregnancy is determined, such as in the case of rape or incest. While this direct challenge to the Roe v. Wade interpretation of the Constitution is being argued in court, South Dakota's existing laws regulating abortions will remain in effect.
The reversal of a Supreme Court opinion is possible. For example, in 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy v. Ferguson case that a state could require racial segregation in public facilities if the facilities offered to different races were equal. However, 58 years later, the Supreme Court reconsidered that opinion and reversed itself in Brown v. Board of Education. It proclaimed that separate could not produce equal. The 1954 Court realized that the earlier interpretation of our Constitution was wrong. HB 1215 will give the United States Supreme Court a similar opportunity to reconsider an earlier opinion.
Whatever the courts decide, South Dakotans will continue to care about both the unborn child and the mother. If we are pro-life, we must recognize the need to take care of women who are faced with a difficult pregnancy. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy, we cannot protect the innocent child unless we protect and care for the mother. We must help each mother to see the value of the gift that is a child, and nurture the mother for her own sake and for the sake of her child.
In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them.
Our state is committed to helping greater numbers of pregnant woman who will allow their babies to grow inside them and be born. In both the private and public sector in South Dakota, we have healthcare options, economic assistance before and after birth, adoption services, and, most importantly, people who want to help pregnant women, young mothers and their children.
So I only have one question for you, Mr. Right-to-Life Governor. When a woman in your state breaks your hideous law and aborts her pregnancy, thereby committing premeditated murder of a human child, will you fry her criminal ass in your electric chair or just let her rot in prison for the rest of her life? And if the answer is neither, why the fuck not? Might it be because you don't think killing a three-week old fetus is exactly equal before the law to killing a living, breathing child?