The Puzzle of South Dakota

In our court system people are innocent until proven guilty, it is a right guarded with great sanctity. Death sentences are levied - especially in South Dakota - in only the most extreme of circumstances. Aborting a human life, even in the earliest of stages, should be held with the same degree of reverence....Referred Law 6: Let 'Life' be Standard, Aberdeen News, 11/03/2006

This plainly argued editorial in the Aberdeen News, in support of Referred Law 6, which would ban abortions in most of the state, may strike many as strange, not only because South Dakota also produced Tom Daschle and George McGovern, but for its rather odd wit. Comparing abortion vs. full-term birth to a death sentence vs. life in prison is one of the odder comparisons, but it's not unusual in a state where one bad storm can make the difference between good times and a depression in its major business (agriculture). The editorial is also typical of the kinds of public discussion on this law. There has been little hysteria other than that imported from the East and West coasts. As to whether or not the law will pass, this writer doubts that it will. In South Dakota, they learned long ago that the way to stop a stampede is to have already built a fence.

Luther