By Hilary White
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PIERRE, South Dakota, November 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The voters of South Dakota have narrowly rejected a comprehensive ban on abortion that was passed overwhelmingly by the legislature and signed into law last year. A consortium of abortion advocates had brought a petition to have the law put to a public referendum. The vote was 45 to 55% against the law.
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The South Dakota plebiscite had been closely watched in anticipation of the Supreme Court case against the federal partial birth abortion law set to start today. Many pro-life advocates had hoped that the South Dakota law would have lent strength to the federal law passed by Congress in 2003 that never came into effect.
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Other states had waited on the November 7th vote to see if such a comprehensive ban on abortion could hold up. Some were even anticipating that the South Dakota legislation would herald a wave of legal protections for the unborn at the state level and lend strength to the push to end Roe v. Wade’s artificial constitutional shelter.
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The ban’s supporters have vowed not to stop at this defeat. ‘‘We’re not going away,’’ Leslee Unruh, leader of the campaign told the Associated Press.
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Apart from opposition from abortion activists, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) had also opposed the legislationÂsaying that it was not a “timely” move for the pro-life movement.
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In 2004, as the bill was being debated, the Thomas More Law Center issued a report minutely detailing NRLC opposition to the bill.Â
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Judie Brown, head of American Life League, speculates in an editorial today that had not the influential group opposed the law before it was passed, it might have survived the plebiscite.
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Brown writes, “What might have happened if American Life League had been joined in South Dakota by the other major pro-life groups, most notably the National Right to Life Committee? Could our collective efforts, in support of pro-lifers in that state, have delivered a victory? We will never know.”
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Read Thomas More Law Center Report:
https://www.thomasmore.org/news.html?NewsID=195
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Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
South Dakota Abortion Ban Delayed: Will Go to Public Vote
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062004.html
News
South Dakota’s Comprehensive Abortion Ban Defeated in Ballot Measure
By Hilary White  PIERRE, South Dakota, November 8, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The voters of South Dakota have narrowly rejected a comprehensive ban on abortion that was passed overwhelmingly by the legislature and signed into law last year. A consortium of abortion advocates had brought a petition to have the law put to a public referendum. The vote was 45 to 55% against the law.  The South Dakota plebiscite had been closely watched in anticipation of the Supreme Court case against the federal partial birth abortion law set to start today. Many pro-life advocates had hoped that the South […]
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