giving a bad name to Dakotas everywhere

South Dakota passed an unconstitutional law yesterday, all-but banning abortion in the state, in an attempt to set up a Supreme Court challenge to Roe vs. Wade. Similar bills are being considered in Mississippi and Missouri.

On its face, this is potentially frightening. But in reality, this should help solidify pro-choice rights.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/national/07abortion.html

As Monica Davey writes in the N.Y. Times, even with Alito and Roberts on the Supreme Court bench, there are still at least five Justices who would likely vote to affirm Roe vs. Wade. Many anti-abortion advocates believe South Dakota jumped the gun—they would have preferred that a challenge to Roe wait until Justice John Paul Stevens retires, and is potentially replaced with a conservative judge. In addition, as Davey writes:

Abortion rights advocates reported a flood of donations, volunteers and membership requests since the abortion bill began drawing national attention last month.

http://www.slate.com/id/2137530/nav/tap2/

Over on Slate.com, William Saletan points out that the South Dakota legislation has a loophole: it says that life begins at conception, yet strangely (in a separate section of the law) allows for the use of morning after pills (the logic apparently being that this is a way to allow for abortion in cases of rape). As Saletan writes:

[The law] concludes that unborn children, "from fertilization to full gestation," have an "inalienable right to life." Nobody who seriously believed these things would give you five days to kill an embryo, any more than they'd give you five days to kill a baby. The loophole discredits the law's rationale.

Let me get this straight: South Dakota just passed an unconstitutional law that will almost surely be overturned, points out a major flaw in the prevailing anti-abortion reasoning, will help pro-choice groups raise money, and may pre-empt a potentially more successful Roe challenge over the next few years.

Way to go, South Dakota! You just did more to advance the pro-choice cause than Democrats have been able to do in years.