(3/15/2006)

Pro-Life Statement on Abortion Referendum Drive

Effort led by out of state abortion group

SIOUX FALLS, S.D., March 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Leslee Unruh, a pro-life advocate in South Dakota, and founder of the state's largest pregnancy center, released the following statement in response to the referendum petition against the bill to protect women and children from abortion, filed by a group from Wisconsin.

"This referendum campaign is proof that abortion-rights activists across the country know they will ultimately lose their case in court. This is a desperate maneuver to avoid a legal confrontation where the facts and evidence presented will overwhelmingly support enforcement of the South Dakota abortion ban. The court will recognize the evidence that human life begins at conception and that abortion is harmful to women.

"The referendum campaign is even more outrageous considering that an outside group is coming into South Dakota to try to overturn our South Dakota laws. In this state, we entrust the duly elected representatives to write and pass law. Now, an outside group is trying to use our laws to thwart the will of the citizens' elected officers? Wisconsin abortion-rights groups are inordinately interested in South Dakota's law. Abortion supporters from Wisconsin called for a travel boycott of South Dakota, and they are initiating the petition to stop the abortion ban.

"As we passed this law, it was the South Dakota women who spoke up about how their abortion affected them; it was South Dakota citizens that lobbied for the law; and it was South Dakota legislators who wrote and passed the law. Like the state abortion-rights leader, I called for pro-life groups from outside to stay away during the legislative efforts. Unfortunately, the abortion-rights groups have no similar respect for South Dakota's citizens. All the doctors who perform abortions in South Dakota are flown in from out-of-state. Even the South Dakota's abortion clinic executive director and administrative offices are in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. As the pro-life victory looms closer, an outside pro-abortion group is leading the petition effort. The pro-life citizens of South Dakota are rallying behind the abortion ban, and will continue to lead the efforts to enforce this legislation.

"This out-of-state effort to refer this new law, designed to protect women and children, will launch a public debate that will expose the deception of abortion-rights supporters concerning women's rights, women's health, and their own pro-abortion interests."