South Dakota Abortion Ban Sponsor Harassed, Gets Death Threats 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 26, 2006
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) — The state representative who was one of the lead sponsors of a measure that would ban all abortions in the state has become the victim of repeated harassment. He has received harassing calls and emails at both the legislature and his home and they have included death threats.
South Dakota state Rep. Roger Hunt says he and his family have been victimized by harassment from abortion advocates upset that the state has been working to ban abortions.
"We’ve received some at home, and we’ve gotten emails," he told Family News in Focus. "The governor did arrange for the state highway patrol and local county sheriff to pass through our neighborhood more often than usual and look for things, but I haven’t had anybody actually initiate any actions."
The state legislature has also removed any personal contact information for Hunt from its web site to make sure people opposed to the ban don’t get it to further harass him.
Hunt told CNS News that That "it is the people’s right to voice their feelings to a politician," but the harassment has apparently gone further than that.
The lawmaker indicated that the threats have included hateful messages wishing that his family would be raped or that he would burn in hell. Hunt told CNS News that other legislators have received threats as well and one lawmaker received a bunch of bent coathangers in the mail.
"People will say things when they’re disgruntled," Hunt said. "It doesn’t mean they’ll follow through with it."
Hunt told Cybercast News that most of the harassment has come from out-of-state people and that most of them, when asked, appear to be uninformed about the abortion ban legislation.
South Dakota voters will consider an attempt in November by abortion advocates to overturn the abortion ban. Should they support the ban at the polls, Planned Parenthood, which runs the only abortion business in the state, can still take the measure to court.
