Barackface

Monday, August 14, 2006

Famine In South Dakota

I am no authority on the abortion issue although I have instinctively supported the position since day one, which would be when I was at high school in Kathmandu and Bill Clinton showed up on the radar to run for president.

I personally don't know anyone who has had an abortion. Or noone who knows me who has had one has told me about it.

The Maoists in Nepal have been staunch supporters of abortion rights since their day one.

For me it has been primarily a white women issue. It tickles me as an issue for a few different reasons. One, it is one of those I did my good deed for the day things. Two, I feel like if I am to expect white women to support me on race issues, I should express solidarity on the gender issues. Three, we live in a sexist world. I am delighted when women get together and take offense on at least something. I maintain the agenda is far too narrow. But it is a start. Women should be angry.

Leila Noor has worked on me for this event. The last time I discussed race with her - and she is half black - I might have thrown her a little off balance. But then I cost her so much time overall, I felt like I should go just for that reason. If I was going to express solidarity with white women, it would have to be some other way, I thought. Nepal never tickled them last year. Nepal is Montana to them. They were too busy thinking of my blog as "The Onion" last year. My three main blogs are serious stuff.

But now I am kind of eager to go. I have not been to a DFNYC event in a long time, but I still get an occasional email from the DFA site, so I guess I am still a member. I thought that meant I could go in for free. But I have been told it is $35, as opposed to $50, a discount. The host committee has some of the usual names, some of the political hobbyists at DFNYC. There is an Adam Noor, and going by last name I wonder if that would be Leila Noor's brother. And there is a Farez Qureshi. Someone of that name used to come to one of my Entrepreneur MeetUps. I wonder if that is the same guy. And there is Susan Sarandon. That is a big one. I wonder if she will show, or she just shared her good name.

Help South Dakota Make the Right CHOICE - Special Appearance by Heather Tom! (2 days 4 hours)

But then this is not that hard of a fight. The ban is on its way to getting overturned.

I have actually been to South Dakota. How many people can say that? It looked a pretty harmless state when I was passing through. What did I know? Looked like noone lives there. Hardly anyone. Who says a small group of people can't make a difference? Them back there, they have sparked a national debate.

I find these small population, remote states kind of exotic. Like Montana. Poll after poll there shows the number one issue there is terrorism. I don't think Bin Laden's knowledge of geography is so good that he has ever heard of Montana.

On The Web

SD Abortion Bill Takes Aim at 'Roe'
Online NewsHour: South Dakota Bans Most Types of Abortion -- March ...
Daily Kos: SD-Init: Abortion ban in trouble This initiative has a great chance of passing, invalidating the ban and providing a massive setback to anti-choice crusaders nationwide. ...... The poll indicated the ban would have broader overall support if it included an exception for cases involving rape or incest. Those undecided or against the current form of the abortion ban were asked if they would favor the proposed law if it included those exceptions. Statewide, 59 percent said they would support that form of an abortion restriction.
South Dakota Governor Signs Abortion Ban - New York Times Planned Parenthood, which operates the state's only abortion clinic ..... Governor Rounds, a Republican, noted that the bill was approved by the Legislature "with bi-partisan sponsorship and strong support in both houses." ...... The South Dakota law is in the forefront of an effort by abortion opponents to test whether a more conservative Supreme Court will reconsider, and possibly reverse, the Roe decision. .... Governor Rounds noted that the Supreme Court has reversed decisions before. He cited the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision that said states could require racial segregation in public facilities if the facilities were "separate, but equal." That ruling was reversed in Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 school desegregation case.
SD OKs ban on most abortions - US Life - MSNBC.com
BREITBART.COM - Bush disagrees with South Dakota abortion ban Bush signalled his opposition to a South Dakota abortion ban that forbids the procedure even in cases of rape or incest, saying he favors such exceptions. ..... my position has been clear on that ever since I started running for office. ..... A leading pro-choice advocacy group has already vowed to challenge the ban in federal court. But that seems to be exactly what many promoters of the legislation seek. .... a rural and socially conservative state, which even today has only one abortion clinic. ...... they are hoping the bill will offer a full frontal assault on legal abortions now that the balance of power in the Supreme Court appears to have shifted with the confirmation of conservative jurists John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both of whom are seen as pro-life.
FOXNews.com - South Dakota House OKs Bill to Ban Nearly All ...
Oglala Sioux Tribe on the South Dakota Abortion Ban : Indybay
ZNet |Feminism/Gender | SD Voters May Decide Abortion Ban
South Dakota bans almost all abortions - Politics - MSNBC.com
NPR : South Dakota Poised to Pass Sweeping Abortion Ban
NPR : South Dakota Weighs Far-Reaching Abortion Ban
USATODAY.com - South Dakota Senate passes abortion ban
Ban on Most Abortions Advances in South Dakota - Free Preview ...
South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families - Vote No on 6
South Dakota Abortion Ban Sponsor Alleges Harassment -- 07/26/2006
The World Today - US state of South Dakota outlaws abortion
South Dakota Bans Abortion, Setting Up a Battle - New York Times
South Dakota House passes ban on abortion, challenging court's Roe ...
[PDF] State of South Dakota HB 1215
Concerned Women for America - South Dakota Senate Passes Abortion Ban
MTV Think News - South Dakota Abortion Ban Sets Up Supreme Court ...
USATODAY.com - Abortion battle gains new intensity with ban in SD
South Dakota's Abortion Ban
FOXNews.com - Gov. Rounds Signs Bill Banning Most SD Abortions ...
SD abortion ban reverberates in election
Think Progress » South Dakotans reject abortion ban. 47 percent of South Dakotans will vote to overturn the near-total abortion ban passed into law this year, which included no exceptions for incest or rape, according to a new poll. 39 percent said they would uphold the ban.
Abortion Rights Debate Full Coverage on Yahoo! News
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US state tightens abortion laws
Update 6: SD House Approves Abortion Ban Bill - Forbes.com
National Network of Abortion Funds
South Dakota abortion ban has decades-long history - The Boston Globe In the 1990s, South Dakota's Democrats dropped abortion rights from their party platform. .... Republicans enjoy a 51-to-19 majority in the House and a 25-to-10 advantage in the Senate. ..... South Dakota has just one abortion clinic, and it performs about 800 abortions a year.
Lori Sturdevant: Fighting the SD abortion ban, from the grass roots As a native South Dakotan, I'm not accustomed to seeing this state run ahead of too many cultural curves. ....... polls that pegged South Dakotans as some of the most ardent opponents of legal abortion in the country. ....... Nicolay soon found herself the cochair of a coalition of feminist and progressive groups that called itself the Campaign for Healthy Families. By May, it was a group with 1,200 petition-carrying volunteers -- all unpaid. By June, well before the deadline, they delivered more than twice the required 16,728 signatures to the secretary of state's office. ....... What rankled folks wasn't that lawmakers wanted to deprive women of control over their own bodies ... it was that lawmakers showed no pity for women impregnated by acts of rape or incest, or for those whose health would be adversely affected by pregnancy and childbearing. Some people also objected to the use of their state tax dollars on a legal errand for the national right-to-life movement. ......... "They say, this [all-out ban] goes too far." ........ For veteran abortion rights defenders, it's a rush into uncharted territory. ..... "We are writing the textbook" on running a grass-roots campaign to keep abortion legal ...... abortion opponents have been organizing. They've been fearless (and, at times, tasteless) about taking their cause into the public square. They've become masters at networking, fundraising and turning out the vote. ....... they understood democracy, better than the feminists did ..... "This has awakened the Democratic Party in this state" .....
S. Dakota Moves Toward Abortion Ban - CBS News
Daily Kos: South Dakota abortion ban will make the ballot
South Dakota's Abortion Ban: Is It Practical?
SFGate: World Views : South Dakota's abortion ban: Watching the ...
RightWinged.com: South Dakota Abortion Ban Heads To Senate For Vote
Law Librarian Blog: To Criminalize or Not: SD Abortion Ban ...
South Dakota Abortion Ban
Orange Tangerine: South Dakota's abortion ban
South Dakota Abortion Ban | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
South Dakota Abortion Ban
Stories Tagged 'south dakota abortion ban' » Netscape.com
FindLaw's Writ - Dorf: Does South Dakota's New Abortion Ban Cross ...
Tribal Connections - Health News - Secondary Feature - South ...
Move to overturn SD abortion ban gains ground - The Boston Globe Volunteers pushing to overturn the nation's most far-reaching abortion ban are surprised and delighted by the response ....... Even in the most conservative corners of this conservative state, Republicans and Democrats -- including some voters who say they oppose abortion -- are eagerly signing the petition. In two weeks, volunteers have collected a third of the signatures they need to get a November referendum on the ban. ....... ''People here have a sense of morals and ethics," said Darcy Patterson, 40. ..... ''I can't wait to sign," he said. ''I was going to go out looking for this petition." .. Hoel said he is a staunch Republican in a county that twice backed President Bush with nearly 75 percent of the vote. ''You have to be, in South Dakota, or you get extradited," he joked. ....... disliked the thought of politicians interfering in a family's most intimate decisions. ''It's too personal to be legislated" ........ July 1. Women will not face charges for ending pregnancies, but doctors who help them could get up to five years in prison. ...... the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, which is funded by major abortion-rights supporters such as Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the American Civil Liberties Union. ...... the three high school seniors who had skipped calculus to gather signatures. ...... had worried that their low-cut jeans, chunky necklaces, and silver toe rings looked ''too hippie" ...... If voters reject the law, it will be stricken from the books. If they uphold it, abortion rights activists can still sue to block its enforcement.
uuworld.org : south dakota uus fought state abortion ban
ICT [2006/03/24] South Dakota's abortion ban has sweeping implications
Say Anything: South Dakota Abortion Ban To Be On Ballot In ...
AXcessNews.com - SD Abortion Ban Center of Divisive Campaign
Abortion Fight Heats Up In S. Dakota, Foes of Law Limiting ...
JURIST - Paper Chase: South Dakota abortion ban opponents seek ...
CitizenLink - Features - South Dakota Abortion-Ban Backers Harassed
CitizenLink - Features - Pro-Family Groups Hail South Dakota ...
Indianz.Com > News > Opinion: South Dakota abortion ban goes too far
Petition Filing Could Halt South Dakota Abortion Ban
Battle lines drawn over SD abortion ban - 04/05/06 - The Detroit ... South Dakota is leading a frontal assault that augurs a social prairie fire this summer and fall. ....... a bitter campaign fueled by millions of dollars in advertising from outside the state. ..... Added Rep. Roger Hunt, R-Brandon, the proposed ban's chief author: "There is a tidal wave sweeping the country to end abortion, and South Dakota has moved to the center of that." ......Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky, are considering bans, and people look to South Dakota for inspiration -- or warning ..... On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Oglala Sioux Tribal President Cecilia Fire Thunder said she might open an abortion clinic on the reservation, "where South Dakota law absolutely does not apply." ....... Fire Thunder is a leader of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families ...... "I think it's going to be very ugly and divisive."
KSFY.com - Stories - Abortion Ban Debate Continues
South Dakota's Abortion Ban Loophole | CivicActions
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | New S Dakota abortion ban on hold

Visitors

11 August