New abortion ban gets House approval (in South Dakota)

[Doondoo]

The state House passed a ban on most abortions Wednesday.

HB1293 would ban most abortions except those done in cases of rape, incest, to keep a woman from being irreparably damaged by pregnancy or to save a woman's life. The bill passed on a 45-25 vote.

A provision in the ban states that if passed and signed by the governor, the measure will go to the people on the 2008 ballot.

.......

The abortion ban passed last year contained an exception for the procedure only to save a woman's life. That bill was signed into law but was referred to a popular vote, where it was defeated 56 percent to 44 percent.

Under the new ban, doctors could perform an abortion if a woman had been raped and the fetus was less than 20 weeks gestation. But doctors would be required to report the rape "immediately by telephone or otherwise to the state's attorney or law enforcement."

Afterward, doctors would need to get consent from the woman to take blood, other tissue samples and the remains of the aborted embryo or fetus to submit to law enforcement for DNA testing. Physicians would have 24 hours to report to law enforcement that the abortion took place and the samples had been prepared.

Doctors also would be required to tell rape and incest survivors about counseling available from social services. Abortions also would be permitted for women whose lives were in danger or to prevent a "devastating and irreversible injury to the mother's health."




http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070215/NEWS02/702150305/1008

[Megahurtz]

1. WHAT?

I thought this had to be voted on by The People. Can it be voted out by The People?

Sneaky abusive and controlling NeoCon Fundy Bastards!:mad:

[skipos]

2. Any one think this survive the 2008 ballot? I do. nt

[Hosnon]

3. Idiots. All these clearly unconstitutional bills do is fatten the pockets of the local

ACLU lawyers.

I'd love to be an ACLU lawyer and live in such state as North Dakota.

[Deep13]

4. The ACLU works for free.

The only exception is in rare cases where attorney fees are authorized and then the fees go to the group and not the lawyer.

[Hosnon]

5. The lawyers work for free? NT.

[Doondoo]

6. Yes, they donate their time on a voluntary basis

[Hosnon]

7. Interesting. The ACLU website though discusses compensation for their

posted positions.

[Doondoo]

8. Yes, they have paid administrative staff but they don't do the real legal work.

Almost all of the real legal work for specific cases is performed by their thousands of volunteer attorneys.

[Hosnon]

9. Well the site does list attorney positions. In any event, these types of laws

benefit the ACLU.

Why pass a bill if you know it will be ruled unconstitutional and that process will benefit your "enemy"?

Edit: Here's an article that says the ACLU lawyers got compensated:

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/41243.html

[Doondoo]

10. Yes, their top paid people are attorneys. They have to be if..........

.......their administration is going to have a real understanding of what their mission is and how to carry it out. How it works is their small corps of paid lawyers (who are not getting rich, by the way) coordinate the caseload to make sure that adequate representation is being given by those in their large body of volunteers. The paid staff could never, EVER litigate all of the ACLU's cases by themselves. The number of cases they take on is enormous. If every lawyer who performed legal work for the ACLU actually got paid for that work then the ACLU would be the largest law firm in the nation by far.

[Hosnon]

12. It's not just top jobs either. There is a temporary position open in one city.

They may not get paid much but you won't find many good attorneys (with law school debt) who will volunteer the necessary time to litigate these cases.

And they would not be the largest law firm in the country...that would be the federal government.

Edit: Any my point is that these kind of bills simply divert state money to the ACLU. It's amazing that conservatives don't care/don't know.

[Occulus]

21. You really, really have a problem with that, don't you?

That the ACLU would get money for something it does. Horrors!

(Your position clones that of many/most Republicans.)

[Hosnon]

23. No, I have no problem with that at all.

I fully support the ACLU and its purposes.

It simply amazes me that conservatives don't see what the net effect of the passage of such bills is. As I said in my first post, it shows how idiotic they truly are.

Surely you aren't suggesting/implying that I can't point this out and support the ACLU at the same time?

[nodehopper]

37. I think the poster is just pointing out the irony

that such initiatives by conservatives result in more cases for the ACLU. In the event that such cases do generate income, the conservatives are essentially sponsoring the ACLU.

[Hosnon]

38. Exactly. Thanks. NT.

[KDLarsen]

27. Why? Because they know it won't stand..

.. this way they can go back to the Kompassionate Konservative Kristian base and tell them 'Hey, we tried, but the judges threw it out.. however, if you vote for me again, I'll be sure to try again!'

[ProudDad]

33. Do you have a problem with ACLU?

Just asking: :hi:


On Edit: Just as we all have unions to thank for the 8 hour day and the weekend, we have ACLU to thank for most of our freedoms...

[Hosnon]

36. Not at all.

I'm about to graduate law school and will probably hook up with a local chapter if I can.

Just pointing something out...

[ProudDad]

39. Cool

lord knows if I ran the world the ACLU lawyers would make $250,000 a year and corporate lawyers would get minimum wage...

[Deep13]

24. ACLU lawyers are volunteers from private practice who work for free.

[Hosnon]

28. I'm finding from a little looking around online that they do in fact have paid

attorneys.

I have a hunch that the system is set up with a central core of paid attorneys who do most of the leg work and farm out various aspects of the case to local attorneys on a volunteer basis.

It doesn't seem probable that the organization could function adequately with an all volunteer work force.

[Deep13]

29. They have a very small core of paid workers...

...including a few staff attorneys who work for peanuts. The lawyers who do litigation are volunteers.

[saigon68]

13. Its South Dakota

[blockhead]

40. make it SOUTH Dakota

:)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. "irreparably damaged by pregnancy"

Couldn't that include women who would go nuts if they carried a child they didn't want to term?

[kestrel91316]

18. No, that would be a DESIRABLE OUTCOME. You see, women who are

nuts are much easier to manipulate and control and keep barefoot and pregnant and stay at home where they belong (at least in these fools' minds).

Nothing like a little reproductive slavery to push a fragile woman over the edge permanently.........

[Manifestor_of_Light]

25. Ben Sargent once drew the ultimate cartoon about pro life hypocrisy.

First panel: Pregnant woman standing there, politician with hand on her tummy, and he's holding his other hand up.
Caption: "Sacred Unborn Life".

Second panel: Non pregnant woman with toddler. Politician points at the brat.
Caption: "Sniveling Little Welfare Cheat".

[kestrel91316]

30. I remember that one.............

[GoddessOfGuinness]

31. And that is the truth! n/m

[Kber]

34. Back in 15th century Spain

a Jewish doctor used exactly your logic to direct physicians and miwives that they could terminate a pregnancy. Talmudic law already established that abortion is allowable (required, in fact) if it saves the life of a woman. They took this further to include women who might become suicidal if they were forced to carry the child of a rapist, for example.

However, it was still a doctor and/or a rabbi making the determination, so it wasn't exactly "pro-chioce". It was simply placing higher value on the life of a woman than that of a theoritical, potential baby who, given the infant mortality rates, might not live anyway.

[Betty]

14. I hope the people of S. Dakota

vote these assholes out of office since they clearly don't give a shit what their constituents want.

[xchrom]

15. hating women has not gone entirely out of fashion in south dakota.

[depakid]

16. Here we go again

One thing you'll have to say about these people (aside from the fact that they're sick misogynistic fucks) is that they're persistent.

The Democrats could learn A LOT from that.

[kestrel91316]

17. Unconstitutional on its face. Per Roe v Wade, the state may not

prohibit ANY abortions in the first trimester.

What part of that DON'T these asswipes get?

[Geezus]

19. It's just an act of political grandstanding, they know the law would

be declared unconstitutional the second it hits the appeals process. They just want to garner the support of like-minded people.

[area51]

22. Welcome to DU, Geezus. (n/t)

[ryanmuegge]

20. "Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem"

Yet another example of "anti-government," "conservative," "pro-privacy" states doing using government oversight and regulation to impose on freedom and personal choice.

Kind of like big, anti-government, private corporations always sucking on the government welfare state's tit for subsidies.

The irony with right-wingers is always rich.

[Ilsa]

26. Okay, let's all just make rape more suspicious for the victim.

That's what this sort of thing does. Not only does a victim have to deal with the crime, but now people will wonder if she's "only looking to have an abortion."

Tying abortion formally to rape only stgmatizes rape victims further.

I wish the labs could figure out a way to replace the evidence DNA with the DNA of the lawmakers.

[lancer78]

32. Interesting.....

I wonder if this will pass another ballot. People in the state are sick and tired of the abortion debate. I suspect that if they get the issue to the voters, they will reject the law. The view of the majority in South Dakota is "Leave me alone and let me farm."

[sakabatou]

35. I'm thinking

that this might be a ploy for people to see how insane abortion bans are. Maybe.