It was still light when Penny Pullen and I reached our meeting point near Sioux Falls with State Rep. Roger Hunt, sponsor of the abortion bill being voted upon in South Dakota this fall.
I was pretty amazed at how a legislative study committee had prepared a 72-page report based on hearings at which proponents and opponents were given the exact same time to testify. Many testified by telephone.
Hunt said that they had over 2,000 pages of affidavits from women who had been aborted. He noted they could be used as evidence in any trial, as could the compiled testimony.
Of course, a U.S. Supreme Court challenge won’t be possible unless the law is re-approved in the referendum put on the ballot by abortion opponents.
Opponents were not confident enough to rely solely on the courts to overturn the law. They decided they wanted three bites at the apple, the second being the referendum.
To make passage of the referendum more likely, people can make contributions on this web site:
Today’s Washington Post article on the referendum says the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) is “channeling cash into the campaign.”
The Post headlined its article, “South Dakota Becomes Abortion Focal Point,” not coincidently using NARAL’s spokesman’s words.
Naturally, the Post featured a pro-abortion female physician. A younger female obstetrician attended the planning meeting we attended. The Washington Post could have focused on her.
And a negative Chicagoland voice is quoted:
The ban is not "something we would have chosen," said Daniel S. McConchie, chief of staff of Chicago-based Americans United for Life. "To overturn Roe v. Wade, which is the goal here, you have to be able to count to five members of the court. We count five in favor of keeping Roe."
Perhaps Mr. McConchie is unaware that cases take years to get to the Supreme Court and some liberal Justices are pretty old. Republicans might just win the presidency again in 2008 if the public is asked to chose whether global warming or terrorism is the greatest threat (as one mid-day talk show host said today).
And, what do you think will happen if fervently pro-abortion Illinois-based Personal PAC decides to get involved in South Dakota’s legislative races? Close to a half a dozen pro-abortion legislators got defeated in primary elections.
S.D. state reps spend maybe $6,000 in a campaign. Personal PAC spent oodles more defending one of its Illinois champions, Barrington Hills Republican State Rep. Mark Beaubien.
If you would like to read something not at all about abortion of our trip along I-90 from the Missouri River to Hunt’s hometown of Brandon, two miles east of the Minnesota border, that’s what the rest of the story is about.
With camera in my lap, my friend Penny drove us back across South Dakota from Cedar Shores, a resort on the Missouri River where we had attended the pro-life referendum planning session pro-life group.
It had rained the day before--the day we arrived--and water was in low lying fields and some ditches next to I-90.
I had seen some big electronic signs designed to alert drivers about the danger of starting fires, but not taken any pictures until I saw the first one here. I figured it would make a good message of the day, a feature I have each day on McHenry County Blog.
The sign had a rotating message. The first part said,
Extreme
Fire
Danger
One of the next billboards was startling in its contrasting message:
3 for 1 Special
BLACKJACK
FIREWORKS
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE
NEXT EXIT 1 MILE ERROS ROAD
And there's a picture of a pirate with arms folded.
I almost missed the next electronic sign with the “Extreme Fire Dange
r” message.
Here’s the text of the next screen:
DON’T THROW
CIGARETTES
FROM VEHICLE
The messages do seem to fight each other, don't they?
After a two-hour meeting, we drove straight through the intermittently foggy Minnesota and periodically very bumpy part of I-90 in Minnesota and mu
ch smoother Wisconsin portion.
The sun was rising on the east side of Marengo when we arrived back in McHenry County. If you missed my first travelogues about the S.D. trip, here is 1, 2 and 3.
Considering the candidates on the ballot for governor in Illinois, I suppose it’s too much to hope for a new dawn here this year.
