Anti-Abortion Group Files Petition Signatures for Ballot Initiative

An anti-abortion group filed enough signatures on Monday to include the anti-abortion ban on the November 2008 South Dakota state ballot. The ballot initiative would ban almost all abortions, but includes exceptions in the case of rape or incest or to protect the health of the woman, reports the Rapid City Journal. It should take the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office a month to validate the signatures. In South Dakota's 2006 elections, voters rejected a similar ballot initiative that would have banned all abortions.

According to the Daily Women's Health Policy Report, Jan Nicolay, the co chair of the South Dakota Campaign for Health Families, said, “In 2006, South Dakotans had a thoughtful and thorough debate about banning abortion, and we decided that such inflexibility and intrusion on personal private decisions is wrong. Even those who are strongly pro-life recognize that each person's circumstances are unique, and one law can't possibly provide for all of those difficult circumstances."

South Dakota is not the only state to be introducing anti-abortion ballot initiatives this election. Anti-abortion extremists are also campaigning for a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortions in Colorado, Montana, and possibly Georgia, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Oregon.

Media Resources: Daily Women's Health Policy Report 04/02/08; Washington Post 04/02/08; Rapid City Journal 04/01/08; Feminist Newswire 02/07/08

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