South Dakota Pro-Life Advocates Begin Statewide Tour for Abortion Ban Signatures 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 27, 2008
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) — Officials with Vote Yes for Life have begun a 12-city tour taking them across South Dakota to obtain signatures for the second attempt at banning most abortions. With less than a month left to get the required number of signatures to qualify for the November ballot, pro-life advocates have to move fast.
Members of the group met with pastors and other religious leaders in Sioux Falls on Tuesday to further coordinate collecting signatures.
Leslee Unruh of the Vote Yes for Life group told the Argus Leader newspaper that Church at the Gate pastor Steve Hickey is helping to pay for the tour.
She said the tour features closed door meetings with local pro-life advocates because her group doesn’t want to turn off voters with a year-long campaign.
Kate Looby, director of Planned Parenthood South Dakota, which operates the only abortion business in the state, told the Argus Leader that residents rejected the first ban and she expects them to do so again.
Pastor Steve Hickey, on his blog, urged pro-life advocates to get involved in the signature campaign.
"Pastors and church leaders in South Dakota are stewards of the key to ending abortion in our state," he said. "The other side doesn’t have congregations full of good people who know right from wrong. Planned Parenthood’s only hope is our apathy. Time is short. Life is at stake."
As LifeNews.com has reported, Bishop Paul Swain of the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese recently indicated pro-life Catholics could sign the petitions to get the ban on the ballot.
Some Catholics have expressed reservations about the new ban because it contains exceptions for rape and incest.
South Dakota voters previously defeated a ban that had only an exception to protect the life of the mother. Polls showed voters would have approved one with the rarely-used rape and incest exceptions.
There were 748 abortions performed in South Dakota in 2006, down from the 805 abortions performed in 2005, the South Dakota health department recently reported.
Related web sites:
Vote Yes for Life – https://VoteYesForLife.com
