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Abortion Ban Considered in Growing Number of States: South Dakota, Indiana, Ohio

By Gudrun Schultz

SOUTH DAKOTA, United States, January 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) –South Dakota is introducing a bill that will ban abortion in the state. The bill, called the Woman’s Health and Life Protection Act, will make abortion a crime, but will not allow prosecution for a doctor who performs an abortion when a woman’s life is in danger.

The bill is a direct attempt to over-turn Roe vs Wade.  Changes in the US Supreme Court are encouraging the fight to regain legal protection for unborn children.

A growing number of states are introducing anti-abortion legislation, attempting to force the Supreme Court to revisit the 1973 decision of Roe vs. Wade that made abortion a constitutional right.

Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia are all in the process of introducing legislation that would place broad limits on abortion.

In the state of Indiana, Bill 1096, under consideration, would ban abortion except when the woman’s life or physical health would be in danger of “substantial permanent impairment.”

That wording is in direct conflict with the wording of Roe vs Wade, which gave doctors the freedom to consider “all factors…relevant to the well-being of the patient,” which included emotional and psychological health, in effect granting a free slate for abortion access.

Troy Woodruff, Republican representative for Indiana who wrote bill 1096, deliberately worded it to conflict with Roe vs. Wade. He wants to see states given the power to criminalize abortion.

''On an issue that's this personal, it should be decided as local as possible," Woodruff told the Globe. ''We either want these procedures, or we don’t…and I don't."

At least a dozen states have criminal laws banning abortion, but they cannot be enforced under Roe vs Wade.

South Dakota rep. Roger Hunt, who is introducing the bill criminalizing abortion, said abortion should be banned.

"DNA testing now can establish the unborn child has a separate and distinct personality from the mother,” said Mr. Hunt. “We know a lot more about post-abortion harm to the mother."

See additional LifeSiteNews coverage:

US Abortion Advocates Fear State-Level Incremental Gains for Right to Life
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06012010.html

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