Skip the Corn Palace

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 11:39 AM on February 27, 2006.

This guest post comes from Marcy Bloom, Executive Director of Aradia Women's Health Center in Seattle, WA:

"Bypass South Dakota" is the name of the boycott called for by the Women's Medical Fund in Madison, Wisconsin, urging tourists throughout the world to deliberately avoid that state.

Abortion rights supporters are urging the public to let South Dakota's tourism department know that Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, the Corn Palace and the Badlands will not be on their list of vacation spots this year.

Although the numbers so far are small, perhaps they will grow once the public comprehends what the banning of abortion in South Dakota truly means for not only the women of that state, but for the entire country. This new law could eventually be brought to the US Supreme Court, challenging the underpinnings of Roe vs. Wade (the right to privacy) and giving the court the opportunity to dismantle Roe and send it back to the states.

How ironic this all is. Mount Rushmore is described on the National Parks Service web site as a "national memorial that reflects patriotism, beauty, and healing... the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt look down from their stony heights and remind everyone that even the impossible is possible."

For me, the right to safe abortion for the women of the US is an act of patriotism. It allows women to determine the course of their lives, is a critical public health benefit, and is a key component to women's equality. No women are depicted on Mount Rushmore. But if the impossible IS possible, maybe—just maybe— we will be able to turn back the conservative fundamentalist tide in our country and hold on to Roe.

In the meantime, you'll have to look at this memorial on web sites and in books—if you want to make a statement about the importance of abortion rights in the US. It's not too late—yet.

And maybe it's time to see some women on Mount Rushmore.

Here's the link to South Dakota's Office of Tourism and the email to the writer of the article on the subject should you want to thank him for writing an article that probably won him no popularity with South Dakota's representatives or the business community... (dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com)

For info on the state's impending legal fees and the Pro-lifer in shining armor, see Deanna's post in the Mix. (DailyKos)

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Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.