South Dakota banned abortion today

Posted by Laura Barcella at 3:29 PM on February 22, 2006.

Today, in what NARAL calls a "monumental setback for women," the South Dakota Senate voted to ban abortion in that state.

It's the broadest abortion measure passed by any state in more than 10 years, and a scary harbinger of what might lie ahead in the fight to preserve choice.

From Planned Parenthood:

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and Planned Parenthood Minnesota North Dakota South Dakota (PPMNS) denounced the South Dakota Senate's vote to ban abortion today. PPFA and PPMNS announced they will fight the ban in court to protect Planned Parenthood patients.

PPFA Senior Staff Attorney Eve Gartner issued the following statement on the ban:

"This ban is an attack on women's fundamental right of privacy and their ability to make the most intimate and personal choice about when and whether to have a child. The U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed time and again the constitutional right to make the private choice to have an abortion. South Dakota is entering dangerous territory with this ban.

"Across the country, state politicians are creating a gauntlet of anti-choice laws and regulations to make it more difficult for women to get the best and safest reproductive health care services. South Dakota's ban is the most sweeping abortion ban passed by any state in more than a decade. Planned Parenthood will go to court to ensure women, with their doctors and families, continue to be able to make personal health care decisions -- not politicians."

Stay tuned; AlterNet will have more to come on the South Dakota abortion ban and how you can fight it.

Laura Barcella is AlterNet's front page editor.