South Dakota Abortion Law Empowers Women With Information

on March 24, 2011 at 9:04 AM

Jenny EriksonA new law in South Dakota would require women to wait three days after a physician assessment and attend a counseling session at a pregnancy care clinic before they can have an abortion. Like any law designed to enforce abortion providers to help women make educated decisions, this one is most likely in for a legal battle.

Why? Whether or not to have an abortion is one of the most monumental decisions a woman will ever make. Whatever the reasoning, circumstance, or political spin, the decision to have an abortion is the decision to end a life, and should not be taken lightly.

Planned Parenthood, one of the organizations protesting the new South Dakota law, is notorious for lying to women about the development of their fetuses. Seeing as how it's the number one abortion provider in the country, it might be a good idea for women to get a second opinion from a pregnancy care center that will offer them more options than abortion.

This law does not assume that women are stupid, it assumes that scared moms-to-be are frequently presented with abortion as the only option. “I felt I had no other choice” is a sentiment often expressed by women who have had abortions and gone on to regret them. This law empowers women by requiring them to be informed of all their options.

South Dakota is not outlawing abortion. Some that oppose Gov. Dennis Daugaard say that requiring women from rural areas to stay two or three nights in the city would prohibit them from exercising their right to an abortion. This sounds like the perfect opportunity for a charity. I’m sure there are more than enough people willing to donate funds for a place where these women-in-waiting could stay. Maybe they could even bond over emotions of grief for even having to consider such a decision.

Every woman deserves to be armed with knowledge when considering a life-changing event like abortion. It is far better to make an informed decision than one in ignorance only to regret it later. Abortion is not something that can be undone.

Filed Under: abortion, feminism, human rights, in the news, law, politics

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Comments (64)

Facebook comment from Lauren Danehy Kuhn

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:10 AM

Thank you for offering your fair and balanced perspective on SD's law. It's refreshing to see someone being mature about this.

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micheledo

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:13 AM

What she said! Thank you.

AngiDas

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:31 AM

I think if they have to wait then the state should pay to put them up in a hotel. It's true women should have all the information in front of them,but that is not hard to do if you can get on the internet or go to a library. Many women have abortions because they have no support and feel desperate. It is much more then a women's issue. it is a society issue.Men STILL get away with treating women as less and being irresponsible without being slut shammed . Also the US claims to be pro-family,but with work places and public places looking down on breastfeeding,very little maternity time off and day care costing a bloody fortune it really don't see abortions going away anytime soon unless those issues get fixed.

meatball77

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:39 AM

Making a woman go to a crisis pregnancy center that will lie to them is not empowering women.

Making a woman feel worse than she already does not empower women.

Treating women like LITTLE CHILDREN incapable of doing research themselves does not empower women.

This law was put in place too make abortions HARD or impossible and as psychochologically damaging as possible. What's going to happen is women are going to order drugs off the internet and do it themselves or worse.

If SD wanted to empower women they'd make birth control easier to get and inform teenagers about it and make it easier to afford to raise a child. That's not what they want though. They want to punish women who had sex.

mommymonkey

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:48 AM

I live in South Dakota, and I spend an awful lot of time talking to women around here.

None of the women I know feel that this will empower them. Of course, none of them feel like this takes power away from them either.

Honestly, people here are more likely to go in already armed with the information, because they DO find out all they can.

Nonmember comment from Anon

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:49 AM

I agree with the wait; I had to wait longer than that for a vision check-up. As far as the cost of any aspect of abortion: please stop talking as if Uncle Sam raped these women. The costs and inconveniences of an unplanned pregnancy stem from the fact that two people had sex. Usually an abortion is due to the male side of the equation not wanting to care for the child. The waiting period gives women a chance to figure out an alternative to having an abortion they often do not want! It actually gives them more of a "choice." I'm sure if they are determined to off the child, they will figure out a way to get through the 3-day wait. I only wish we could get people to wait and consider the consequences before they had sex in the first place.

elfishpirat

I agree with the article. On an off note, I still can't figure out how everyone can say that abortion is "ending a life" and still believe that it should be legal. If I chose to end a life right now, it would be murder and I would go to jail. Why is it any different just because the baby in question hasn't been born yet?

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:54 AM

I always wonder how people can say that abortion laws insult intelligent, thoughtful women. A woman who put a moment's intelligent thought into her actions before having consensual sex would not be "needing" abortion services. Yes, the small matter of an unwanted pregnancy does tend to suggest a lack of forethought! So does the fact of being pregnant suddenly increase these women's IQ / maturity?

sunnybunny5us

on Mar 24, 2011 at 9:56 AM

"It's true women should have all the information in front of them,but that is not hard to do if you can get on the internet or go to a library. Many women have abortions because they have no support and feel desperate."

So - you think they can get support that makes them not feel desperate from the internet? What kind of information do you think these places could offer that the women don't have? My thinking is that their mission is to make these women feel less desperate and alone - not to give them common information that everyone who is past the third grade or so ought to know ( like what a fetus looks like or some other irrelevant shock value tactics - but if someone is truly ignorant of those things, it won't hurt them to find out more about it if they are pregnant ).

I say give these charities the opportunity to talk people out of abortions. If they do try to shame the girls and make them feel like sluts they are not going to accomplish their mission (personally that would only make me more determined to want to get rid of it and get away from there - what about you?), so they are more likely to do what works and what they say they want to do which is empower.

butterflymkm

on Mar 24, 2011 at 10:00 AM

I want to know what they mean by pregnancy care clinic, becase if it is a crises pregnancy center than they have their own antiabortion political agenda! And the spread more false information then PP ever could. As long as the state foots the bill forthese doctors appointments, travel expenses, and provides an unbiased couselor I am okay with it. But I don't want to hear you say Jack about your tax dollars when these women give birth to children they can't afford and they need Medicaid and foodstamps to survive. You don't get to have it both ways.