S.D. governor backs bill to ban abortions

[Khephra]

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds said today that he will sign a bill banning most abortions in the state providing that legislators clarify language to ensure that current restrictions remain in force while the new law is under consideration in the courts.

Lawmakers will be asked to approve changes in the bill when they return to the Capitol on Monday for the final day of this year's legislative session. If signed by Rounds, a Republican who has favored abortion restrictions, South Dakota's new law would allow abortion only to save the life or health of the mother. An exception for cases involving rape or incest was rejected in both the House and Senate.

In conversations with legislative leaders today and at a noon news conference at the Capitol in Pierre, Rounds said the bill passed last month does not make it clear enough that the state's current limits on abortion would stay in effect if a court suspended enforcement of the new law. If legislators agree to the changes he requested, he said, he would sign the bill into law.

Backers of the ban have said they hope it sets up a court fight that leads to a reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Abortion rights advocates have said they would appeal the law as unconstitutional and immediately ask a federal judge to enjoin the state from enforcing it.


more............

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4653958.html