In the News!

My adoptive home state is in the news again...as usual, for something I wouldn't be inclined to brag about. Here's the lead from an item in today's International Herald Tribune "Americas" section:

PIERRE, South Dakota South Dakota lawmakers have voted to outlaw nearly all abortions, setting up the first direct legal attack on Roe v. Wade by a state in 14 years.

It goes on to say:

After more than an hour of fierce and emotional debate, the senators Wednesday rejected exceptions for incest or rape or for the health of a mother and voted, 23-12, to outlaw all abortions, except those to save a mother's life.

They also rejected an effort to allow South Dakotans to decide the question in a referendum and an effort to prevent state tax dollars from financing what is certain to be a long and expensive court battle.

Now, read that again. The "compassionate" conservatives in the statehouse don't care if pregnancy threatens a woman's (or girl's) health. They don't care if she is pregnant thanks to a rapist or incestuous sexual predator. (It wouldn't surprise me at all if at least some of them don't think it's "her own fault" for "leading on" her attacker.)

Nor do they care what the voters of their state think.

It strikes me as odd that they are so concerned with "protecting" the unborn while displaying such callous disregard for those who are already here: the girls and women who would be affected by this legislation. To say nothing of kids in school, for whom there never seems to be enough money...despite there apparently being plenty of money to fight a "test case" in the courts.

Don't get me wrong: Abortion is a terrible thing all the way around. Lives are lost, lives are scarred. Nobody wins.

But why is it that no one seems interested in trying to do something about the cause of abortions--the circumstances that some women find themselves in in which this physically, emotionally, psychically deadly option seems their only choice? Why can't the "concerned" folks in the legislature, or those marching in front of "abortion mills," find enough compassion in their hearts to worry about the women involved?

And make no mistake: This legislation, if passed, will not prevent abortions in this state. Just legal ones. And, again, where's the compassion? Where's the heart?

Of course, this is the same legislature that, earlier this term, decided that the working poor of this state didn't deserve a bump in the minimum wage, so I guess I shouldn't be at all surprised. In fact, I'm not: It's been obvious for some time that there are a couple of grandstanders in the capitol who enjoy seeing their names in the news and who are more than happy to carry that notoriety to the national arena.

It's just too bad that people will have to suffer so that they can get their headlines. And that taxpayers will have to foot the bill.