South Dakota Abortion Ban Supported by Former Abortion Practitioner 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 26, 2006
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) — A former abortion practitioner at the state’s only abortion facility in Sioux Falls says she supports Referred Law 6, the state’s abortion ban. Patti Giebink, M.D., now an obstetrician-gynecologist, appears in a new ad sponsored by Vote Yes for Life, the pro-life group urging support for the measure.
Giebink formerly did abortions at the Planned Parenthood abortion facility, which now relies on out of state abortion practitioners because no South Dakota physician will do abortions.
“I would go to Planned Parenthood and I would do abortions where I would be ending a life of a baby,” Giebink says in the new commercial. “And I think this is the time to ban abortion on demand in our state.”
Dr. Giebink says the law will protect both babies before birth and women as well and says she doesn’t think abortions are needed given the kind of help women can receive nowadays.
“I don’t think it’s necessary. I think its time has passed," she said.
The group opposed to the ban is outspending the pro-life organization that supports it by a 2-1 margin on the two top television stations in the state’s largest city, Sioux Falls.
According to the Argus Leader newspaper, the pro-abortion Campaign for Healthy Families has spent $285,227.50 on ads on the CBS and ABC television stations while Vote Yes for Life has paid for $122,592.50 on commercials there.
The pro-life group’s grassroots campaign has increased the level of public support for the abortion ban, according to a late September Zogby International poll. The survey, of 531 likely South Dakota voters on September 20, finds 44 percent of state residents back the abortion ban while 47 percent oppose it.
That’s an increase of five percentage points since a July Mason-Dixon poll found a 47-39 split against the ban.
Related web sites:
Vote Yes for Life – https://www.voteyesforlife.com
