God is in found in South Dakota!

Here is a great story off the wire. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Lets pray that this decision is upheld and more follow.

 

CHICAGO (AFP) - The governor of the US state of South Dakota signed a near blanket ban on abortion, including in rape cases, launching a major challenge to a landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made the procedure legal.

 

The bill signed by Republican Governor Mike Rounds makes it illegal to terminate a pregnancy except in rare cases when it may be necessary to save the mother's life.

It grants no allowances for women who have been raped or are victims of incest. It provides for criminal charges against doctors who perform abortion. It also prohibits the sale of emergency contraception and asserts that life begins at fertilization.

 

Rounds described the law as a "direct challenge" to the Roe versus Wade decision of 1973, in which the US Supreme Court ruled that bans on abortion violated a woman's constitutional right to privacy.

 

Anti-abortion campaigners believe there is a chance that pivotal 1973 ruling could now be overthrown.

 

The balance of power in the Supreme Court appears to have shifted right with the recent confirmation of conservative judges John Roberts and

 

Samuel Alito, who are both seen as pro-abortion.

"The reversal of a Supreme Court opinion is possible," Rounds said in a statement, comparing South Dakota's fight against abortion to the fight against racial segregation in the 1950s.

 

The governor said he expected the South Dakota law to be challenged.

 

"Because this new law is a direct challenge to the Roe-versus-Wade interpretation of the constitution, I expect this law will be taken to court and prevented from going into effect this July," he said.

 

The legal battle could take years and end up in the Supreme Court, Rounds predicted. In the meantime, the state's existing laws would remain in effect, he said.

 

If the 1973 Supreme Court decision is overturned, 15 other US states could start enforcing laws already on their books that make abortion a crime, even in the first weeks of pregnancy.

 

A number of other states are also considering banning abortion. They include Mississippi , which is considering a bill that contains exceptions for rape and incest, according to local media.

 

Each side in the deeply emotional argument prepared for a costly, long-haul battle.

"This ban in South Dakota is a direct violation of the fundamental rights of privacy and it's absolutely unconstitutional, and Planned Parenthood will challenge it in court," said Tracy Fischman, vice-president for public policy at Planned Parenthood in Chicago.

"We can only hope that Roberts and Alito will absolutely respect the fundamental right to privacy."

US

 

President George W. Bush, who is an opponent of abortion, last week signaled his own opposition to the South Dakota abortion ban, saying it went too far because it made no exceptions for rape and incest.

But many anti-abortion, or pro-life, campaigners are preparing to defend the South Dakota legislation.

 

"We're not going to overthrow Roe. v. Wade without a plan," Leslee Unruh, the founder of the Alpha Center which lobbied heavily for the South Dakota bill, told AFP.

Unruh said her organization planned to raise three million dollars to finance the legal battle. Already, the center had received one million dollars from an anonymous donor, she said.

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God Bless,
Bob Speakman