Should South Dakota Pass the Abortion Ban?

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Initiative 11 reflects the will of the majority of South Dakotans to limit use of abortions to those circumstances where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or where there is a substantial risk of serious permanent injury or death to the mother.

Initiative 11 does not permit an abortion simply because the baby is not in perfect health.  Thus, if there is a genetic anomaly, such as Downs Syndrome or other illness, such as anencephaly, this law does not permit the killing of such human beings.

Our nation was founded on the principle that all human beings are created equal.  That never meant that we are all created the same.  It means the lives of all human beings have equal value and worth, regardless of our relative skills, intelligence, and the differences in our physical ability or health.  The denigration of these values is the denigration of the human race.

If there are any self-evident and universal truths that can act for the human race as a guide or light in which social and human justice can be grounded, they are that life has intrinsic value and each individual human being is unique and irreplaceable.