South Dakota: Choice's Last Stand?

I'm still getting zillions of anti-Palin emails, but in the fuss over her and Alaska, we are forgetting about South Dakota and the attempt to ban abortion there in the upcoming election.

Sharon Billings emails me today about Planned Parenthood's new campaign to donate to PPFA "in honor of Sarah Palin" and have a note sent to McCain headquarters announcing your action in favor of full reproductive choice. www.plannedparenthood.org

My daughter Marie sends a similar plea by email today: "mom and dad, maybe you could donate to this fund?" The fund turns out to be Feminist Majority's work to defeat Measure 11 in South Dakota. See www.feminist.org or www/feministmajority.org or to donate against Measure 11, https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1400/t/900/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=3982.

FM has 24 paid student organizers and scores of volunteers working to register young voters on South Dakota college campuses in order to defeat the proposed ban.

A similar ban in South Dakota was defeated in 2006, narrowly, but anti-abortion forces are like barking dogs. They don't shut up when they are locked out.

I chose to bypass PPFA and FM, both worthy organizations, in order to send money directly to South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families at www.sdhealthyfamilies.org.

I had first called my friend Marjorie Signer, Director of Communications and Policy at the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in Washington, DC, to ask whether RCRC is mounting a major campaign in South Dakota this year.

RCRC was a key part of the coalition that defeated the 2006 attempt to ban abortion there, but she said that SD RCRC folks are working through the SD Campaign for Healthy Families this time, so I donated there for maximum impact.

Because RCRC monitors Congress and informs senators and representatives about the many religious groups and leaders who support women's full access to reproductive options, it's a good idea to donate there as well: www.rcrc.org

Anyway, the point is to fight for our rights, not send emails about Palin to online polls or further clog up your friends' email inboxes.

South Dakota is the frontline (again) this year for keeping abortion legal.

Like General Custer and his 225 men killed by Lakota Indians in 1876 near the Montana/South Dakota border, the pro-choice forces may be defeated in South Dakota this November by anti-choice organizations.

In 1876, Custer's friends came back to crush the Lakota and confine them on reservations.

But pro-choice side will be at a disadvantage for a long time if we lose South Dakota. The issue of whether individual states can ban abortion would go to the Supreme Court--and we all know that Roe v. Wade is imperiled there.