S. Dakota Becomes Abortion Focal Point

"Where's the baby's choice?" Brandt asked. "What about the life of the baby?"

The bold South Dakota strategy has energized some proponents while highlighting strategic splits in the antiabortion movement. Many committed foes, focusing on incremental steps to make abortion less accessible, believe that Roe v. Wade cannot realistically be challenged until the composition of the Supreme Court shifts further.

The ban is not "something we would have chosen," said Daniel S. McConchie, chief of staff of Chicago-based Americans United for Life. "To overturn Roe v. Wade , which is the goal here, you have to be able to count to five members of the court. We count five in favor of keeping Roe."

McConchie considers it unlikely that any one case -- even a near-total ban on abortions -- would force the high court to reconsider the landmark decision before the justices are ready. Nor, he believes, is such a law necessary to get the Supreme Court's attention.

Performing an abortion in South Dakota would be a felony if the mother's life is not in danger, according to the law, which declares that mother and fetus "each possess a natural and inalienable right to life." There is no exception for rape, although rape victims would be permitted to take morning-after contraceptives "prior to the time when a pregnancy could be determined through conventional medical testing."

Gov. Mike Rounds (R) signed the bill into law in March, declaring that the unborn are "the most helpless persons in our society." Architects of the law never really expected it to be implemented. Instead, they figured that it would be the subject of a lawsuit that would eventually make its way to the Supreme Court, where they hoped it would be upheld by the overturning of Roe v. Wade .

But instead of suing to block the law, opponents are using a 19th-century provision that allows voters to overrule the legislature by referendum. Meanwhile, the law is on hold.

In a socially conservative state of 775,000 residents who twice gave George W. Bush 60 percent of the vote, abortion defenders gathered more than 38,000 signatures -- more than twice the number necessary -- to place the measure on the ballot. Supporters drew on traditional abortion rights advocates, as well as Republicans who feel the legislature is too intrusive.

Also on the Nov. 7 ballot is a constitutional amendment that would define a marriage as being between a man and a woman while prohibiting the recognition of "civil unions, domestic partnerships or other quasi-marital relationships between two or more persons regardless of sex."

Seated on a park bench, reading "When Life and Beliefs Collide," insurance company employee Laurie Harsch said the unborn must be protected. Questioning the abortion rights advocates' contention that giving a woman a right to choose is more tolerant and moral, she asked whether tolerance is always moral.

"There were people in Germany who were tolerant of what Hitler did to the Jews," said Harsch, a born-again Christian and mother of three. "I understand the people who say, 'It's my body. I can do what I want.' But I don't believe it's only their body."

Meanwhile, the abortion issue proved potent in the state's June primary. Conservative Republicans defeated four GOP state senators who had voted against the ban. One defeated incumbent later became a Democrat, and another endorsed a Democrat for the November elections.

Indeed, party labels offer only limited help in identifying opinions on abortion here. In the state House, where HB 1215 was approved 50 to 18, the primary sponsor was Hunt, a Republican. In the state Senate, where the vote was 23 to 12, the chief sponsor was Julie Bartling, a Democrat.

NARAL named Republican state Rep. Casey Murschel as its statewide executive director. Jan Nicolay, a leading spokeswoman for an abortion rights coalition called the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, spent 14 years as a Republican state lawmaker before quitting the party.

"I have never had an experience like this. There's an intensity," said Nicolay. "It's an issue that most people weren't talking about, and are now doing so."

The state's lone clinic, run by Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, is open one day a week, when a doctor flies in from Minnesota -- the organization could not find a South Dakotan willing to do elective abortions. State figures show that 814 abortions were performed in South Dakota in 2004.

A sign on the outside of the secure one-story building proclaims in bold letters: "These Doors Will Stay Open!"

A recent Mason-Dixon poll suggested that they just may. Forty-seven percent of 800 respondents said they opposed the ban, while 39 percent said they supported it. If the law had included an exception for rape and incest, the poll found, 59 percent would have favored it, with 29 percent opposed.

"If they put in an exception for rape and incest, the ban would pass, but leaving it out, they showed who they are," said Jean Beddow, a former state legislator who hosted a recent party to rally abortion rights forces. "If we lose it this fall, we're going to be in court."