NYT: Ripples From Law Banning Abortion Spread Through South Dakota

[Rose Siding]

snip>
Effects of the ban seem to be emerging all around, with fallen poll numbers for the governor who signed the law and growing ranks of candidates who want to replace the state's lawmakers. Ordinary people, too, said they had found themselves tangling unpleasantly with their closest friends over a question they had never really discussed much outside their homes. Some said they feared that as the fight over the ballot measure intensified, it would bring only more painful division.

Toni L. Popham, 48, grew emotional as she wondered aloud what her acquaintances near Watertown, 100 miles north of Sioux Falls, might think if she agreed to gather signatures in the beauty shop she owns. "Some of my clients may not like it," Ms. Popham said on a recent evening, tears suddenly filling her eyes. "I guess this is the time to stand up, but I don't know what people will think."
.....
Reeling from all the attention, some here said they were still confused about how South Dakota had become the focus of such a fundamental fight. Many said they had been swamped with phone calls and e-mail messages (some supportive; others not) from relatives and friends in other states, and only then recognized the significance of what was happening.

.....a woman from Rapid City, on the state's western edge, drove alone for more than five hours in March to have an abortion at the Planned Parenthood clinic. The woman, who is in her 30's and said she feared for her safety if her name was used in this article, went to the clinic the very day Governor Rounds signed the ban.

Had the law been in effect, she said, she still would have found a way — legal or not — to have an abortion. "Once that type of decision is made, it's going to be done," she said. "Are we really going to go that route?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/us/16dakota.html?ex=1302840000&en=568b81b4ff040e87&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[rodeodance]

1. I hope this Toni puts out the petition in her shop.

Toni L. Popham, 48, grew emotional as she wondered aloud what her acquaintances near Watertown, 100 miles north of Sioux Falls, might think if she agreed to gather signatures in the beauty shop she owns. "Some of my clients may not like it," Ms. Popham said on a recent evening, tears suddenly filling her eyes. "I guess this is the time to stand up, but I don't know what people will think."

[Rose Siding]

2. And the religious right thinks they're oppressed

:(

[xchrom]

3. no, the religous right knows they are lying.

unfortunately -- they know they are not oppressed -- it's part of the deep dishonesty that is pervasive in the fundy ranks any more.

[LuckyLib]

4. This is her time to stand up. To put the petition in her shop and

tell her clients, "We can agree to disagree. But if you haven't contemplated an abortion, or had one, your neighbor has. If your daughter hasn't, your niece has. If your best friend hasn't, your aunt did in 1973. It was their right to do so. We all deserve that right." You go, Toni. Stand up and be counted!

[saltpoint]

5. It couldn't hurt to write a letter to the State Tourism Board and

state that you won't vacation in S. Dakota owing to their repressive legislation against women.