Politics
Monday July 24, 2006
Abortion Could Lead to First Degree Murder Charges in South Dakota Lawyer Warns
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Hilary White
PIERRE, July 24, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A lawyer in South Dakota is warning doctors that they may face charges of first-degree murder if they attempt to abort children in that state.
The Associated Press reports that an attorney for the state medical association, Dave Gerdes, has circulated a memo to doctors saying that should the recently passed ban on abortion be combined with changes to a homicide statute, doctors committing abortions could be prosecuted for murder.
"It is at least possible that a prosecutor or a court will decide that a physician performing a procedure qualifying as an abortion under the language of the new statute can be prosecuted for first-degree murder,” Gerdes wrote in the memo.
The South Dakota legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that prohibits all abortion in the state except in those cases where continuing a pregnancy would pose a medical threat to the woman’s life. The law would make abortion a felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment, and contains none of the usual exceptions for “health” or children conceived through rape or incest. Although Governor Mike Rounds signed the bill into law in March, it is still awaiting the outcome of a public referendum in November before it can come into effect.
In 2005, the state Legislature also revised the state criminal code modifying the definition of homicide constituting first-degree murder to include the premeditated, unlawful killing of “any unborn child.” Gerdes claims that the combination of these two legal changes could result in more serious charges against doctors who kill unborn children in South Dakota.
Rep. Roger Hunt, R-Brandon, the abortion ban’s sponsor, refuted Gerdes’ claim saying the memo was “kind of a biased, incomplete view of the subject.”
Hunt told AP that Gerdes was proposing an unlikely worst-case scenario. He said that first-degree murder, which carries the death penalty in South Dakota, would not be lightly undertaken against doctors by the state’s attorneys.
“I do know that when you take the life of a human being in our society, every state's attorney is going to look at all potential charges - murder all the way down to manslaughter and aggravated assault," said Hunt.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Abortion Ban Signed into Law by South Dakota Governor
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06030603.html
South Dakota Abortion Ban Delayed: Will Go to Public Vote
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062004.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 220 - 215
- Stupak Amendment to Health Care Bill Passes 240 - 194 Saturday Evening
- NY Times: Dems Banking on Later Squeezing Pro-Life Language Out of Bill in Committee
- USCCB Spokesman: "Definitely Not True" that Bishops Support Bill As it Stands
- TIME Got it Wrong - Prof. George Opposed Grandiose Kennedy Funeral
- Major Health Care Development - Pro-Life Stupak Amendment Vote OK'd for Saturday
- USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholic Left
- Dirty Fighting on Abortion Funding: Word-Games and Health-Care Theatrics Boggle the Mind
- Commentary on November 6 News
- Note to LifeSiteNews Subscribers with Rogers email addresses
- New York Gov. Declares Nov. 10 Extraordinary Legislative Session for Same-Sex "Marriage"
- Washington's Pro-Family Amendment Effort Defeated - R-71 Almost Certain to Pass
- Vote Pushed Back on Canadian Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Bill to Dec. 2
- Elderly U.K. Couple in Good Health Commit Suicide, Complain of Assisted Suicide Law
- Texas Late-Term Abortionist and Baptist Minister Admits: "Am I killing? Yes, I am"
- New Evidence Contradicts CCHD's Findings on Accused Pro-Abortion Partner
- Quebec Priest Denies Possibility of Sexual Reorientation Therapy on TV
- New Hampshire Same-Sex "Marriage" Law in Crosshairs after Maine's Law Crumbles
- Brooklyn Bishop Criticized for Recorded Message Praising Pro-Abortion Politician
- First Group of "Traditionalist" Anglicans in Britain Votes to Enter Catholic Church
Most Read this Week
- Planned Parenthood Director Resigns after Watching Ultrasound of Abortion Procedure
- Nun Defiant Following Rebuke, but Stops Abortion Escorting
- Breaking: Dominican Community Apologizes for Nun Caught Acting as Abortion Escort
- TIME Article Setting Burke Against O'Malley Called "Tactical strike" on Behalf of Catholics Left
- Over 200 Christendom College Students Protest Abortion at Planned Parenthood Clinic
- US Congress Passes Health Care Reform Bill 218 to 215
- Newly Identified Corporate Supporters of Planned Parenthood Named
- Scottish Gay Rights Activists Found Guilty of Pedophilia Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
- Major Health Care Bill Development - Stupak Hyde Amendment Vote OK'd
- Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.