2008 Woodie Awards
South Dakota measure aims to eliminate abortion
Kiah Haslett
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: News
View the petition for Measure 11 as a PDF.
Sioux Falls, SD - Initiated Measure 11 is a one-page bill. In a brief 2,500 words, it outlines a statewide ban on abortion and allowable exceptions.
"Is the bill confusing? Absolutely not," said Brandi Gruis, a member of voteyesforlife.com, the principal anti-abortion rights group in support of the bill.
But it is controversial. Even within the ban itself, there is ambiguity.
The ban doesn't explicitly mention who would pay legal costs if the ban's constitutionality were questioned. Gruis said voteyesforlife.com has set up a private legal fund to cover the court costs for the state.
"We did that to save taxpayers' money," she said. "The other side would waste taxpayer time, but not their money."
The ban prohibits abortions except in cases of rape and incest or if the life or health of the mother is in danger. In rape or incest situations, a woman must report the crime before receiving medical care.
Harold Cassidy, a New Jersey attorney and member of the voteyesforlife.com legal team, responded to e-mail questions by writing that emergency contraceptive pills are considered birth control, rather than being treated as medicinal abortion-inducing drugs. In rape cases, morning-after drugs are given to a victim before knowing whether or not she is pregnant, so there is no violation of the law.
"These drugs ... are intended to prevent ovulation or conception," he wrote. "It is not the intent to kill the baby once the baby is conceived. The abortion bill only prosecutes if there is an intent to (commit) abortion."
The ban explicitly permits abortions if a major bodily organ is endangered by the pregnancy. Abortion rights activists have pointed to a hypothetical situation of a pregnant woman with breast cancer who cannot receive chemotherapy until her cancer has spread from her breast, a non-major organ, to her lungs, heart or brain.
Cassidy wrote that radiation and chemotherapy are not harmful to the baby and are not an issue of risk for the mother.
"If the doctor determines that abortion is necessary to preserve the life and health of the mother, abortion is permitted," he wrote.
Gruis said in instances where the mother's life or health is compromised by her pregnancy, it is up to her doctor to decide what medical care is appropriate in accordance with the accepted standard in South Dakota.
"Under accepted standard care, the goal would be to not preserve the life (of the unborn child) but to preserve the mother's health," she said. "If she couldn't undergo chemotherapy, the cancer would spread and her health would be jeopardized."
Gruis would also expect physicians to exercise their judgement in a case where one twin fetus must be aborted to save the life of the other twin.
"I can't make a broad statement. That's why it's left open to physicians," she said.
When a woman receives an abortion for medical reason, rape or incest, her records are sent to the South Dakota Department of Health with all identifying data omitted, Cassidy said. The records are not made public and would be used only used to monitor abortions performed in the state.
The bill does not take a stand on fetal anomalies or fetuses that die in the womb. Gruis said abortions can be performed to remove a dead fetus if it causes the mother pain. Under the present wording, however, mothers are expected to birth the body. Babies with anomalies are expected to be carried to term.
"There have been several international studies done in France and Australia that show when women receive devastating news like that, they suffer more from post-traumatic stress disorder (when they) abort the child and not allowing themselves to carry through a natural delivery and go through a natural grieving process," she said.
"We want what's better for the woman in that case, and women do better when they allow a natural end for that pregnancy."
Cassidy said Measure 11 protects the life and sanctity of the unborn.
"The law does not, nor can it ever, suggest that a person's life has to be in perfect form in order to (merit) protection or ... value," he said. "A less-than-perfect child can be deeply loved by the mother, and it can have value (and) happiness. We can't decide to abort some babies but not all of them."
Seduction and consensual sex between persons of great age disparities but above the age of consent in South Dakota (for example, a 40-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl) are not considered statutory rape, Cassidy said.
"She cannot get (an abortion) on the grounds of statutory rape if it was consensual," he said. "She is using the abortion as a form of birth control."
Cassidy said Measure 11 protects women's liberty and constitutional right to have relations with their children. That right is lost in having an abortion and is preserved by the ban.
"Measure 11 is a reaffirmation of the declaration upon which our nation was founded: that all persons are created equal," he said.
"It was always realized that our physical gifts are relative and come in relative degrees, but human life is always equally valuable (to) every other human life."
kiahhaslett@dailynebraskan.com
Sioux Falls, SD - Initiated Measure 11 is a one-page bill. In a brief 2,500 words, it outlines a statewide ban on abortion and allowable exceptions.
"Is the bill confusing? Absolutely not," said Brandi Gruis, a member of voteyesforlife.com, the principal anti-abortion rights group in support of the bill.
But it is controversial. Even within the ban itself, there is ambiguity.
The ban doesn't explicitly mention who would pay legal costs if the ban's constitutionality were questioned. Gruis said voteyesforlife.com has set up a private legal fund to cover the court costs for the state.
"We did that to save taxpayers' money," she said. "The other side would waste taxpayer time, but not their money."
The ban prohibits abortions except in cases of rape and incest or if the life or health of the mother is in danger. In rape or incest situations, a woman must report the crime before receiving medical care.
Harold Cassidy, a New Jersey attorney and member of the voteyesforlife.com legal team, responded to e-mail questions by writing that emergency contraceptive pills are considered birth control, rather than being treated as medicinal abortion-inducing drugs. In rape cases, morning-after drugs are given to a victim before knowing whether or not she is pregnant, so there is no violation of the law.
"These drugs ... are intended to prevent ovulation or conception," he wrote. "It is not the intent to kill the baby once the baby is conceived. The abortion bill only prosecutes if there is an intent to (commit) abortion."
The ban explicitly permits abortions if a major bodily organ is endangered by the pregnancy. Abortion rights activists have pointed to a hypothetical situation of a pregnant woman with breast cancer who cannot receive chemotherapy until her cancer has spread from her breast, a non-major organ, to her lungs, heart or brain.
Cassidy wrote that radiation and chemotherapy are not harmful to the baby and are not an issue of risk for the mother.
"If the doctor determines that abortion is necessary to preserve the life and health of the mother, abortion is permitted," he wrote.
Gruis said in instances where the mother's life or health is compromised by her pregnancy, it is up to her doctor to decide what medical care is appropriate in accordance with the accepted standard in South Dakota.
"Under accepted standard care, the goal would be to not preserve the life (of the unborn child) but to preserve the mother's health," she said. "If she couldn't undergo chemotherapy, the cancer would spread and her health would be jeopardized."
Gruis would also expect physicians to exercise their judgement in a case where one twin fetus must be aborted to save the life of the other twin.
"I can't make a broad statement. That's why it's left open to physicians," she said.
When a woman receives an abortion for medical reason, rape or incest, her records are sent to the South Dakota Department of Health with all identifying data omitted, Cassidy said. The records are not made public and would be used only used to monitor abortions performed in the state.
The bill does not take a stand on fetal anomalies or fetuses that die in the womb. Gruis said abortions can be performed to remove a dead fetus if it causes the mother pain. Under the present wording, however, mothers are expected to birth the body. Babies with anomalies are expected to be carried to term.
"There have been several international studies done in France and Australia that show when women receive devastating news like that, they suffer more from post-traumatic stress disorder (when they) abort the child and not allowing themselves to carry through a natural delivery and go through a natural grieving process," she said.
"We want what's better for the woman in that case, and women do better when they allow a natural end for that pregnancy."
Cassidy said Measure 11 protects the life and sanctity of the unborn.
"The law does not, nor can it ever, suggest that a person's life has to be in perfect form in order to (merit) protection or ... value," he said. "A less-than-perfect child can be deeply loved by the mother, and it can have value (and) happiness. We can't decide to abort some babies but not all of them."
Seduction and consensual sex between persons of great age disparities but above the age of consent in South Dakota (for example, a 40-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl) are not considered statutory rape, Cassidy said.
"She cannot get (an abortion) on the grounds of statutory rape if it was consensual," he said. "She is using the abortion as a form of birth control."
Cassidy said Measure 11 protects women's liberty and constitutional right to have relations with their children. That right is lost in having an abortion and is preserved by the ban.
"Measure 11 is a reaffirmation of the declaration upon which our nation was founded: that all persons are created equal," he said.
"It was always realized that our physical gifts are relative and come in relative degrees, but human life is always equally valuable (to) every other human life."
kiahhaslett@dailynebraskan.com
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