South Dakota Pro-Life Group Says Healthy Families Ad Misleading on Abortion Ban
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 17, 2008
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) — The South Dakota pro-life organization that is behind the second effort to ban abortions in the state says the leading pro-abortion group opposing Measure 11 is misleading about it. Vote Yes for Life says the Healthy Families campaign placed an ad on its web site that it says is "an effort to confuse the voting public."
The pro-abortion ad claims the law isn’t drafted well and potentially unconstitutional.
It goes on to say that South Dakota voters "already voted on this" and implies that a rare procedure resulting in the death of a twin that has “Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome” is illegal under the law.
The ad also claims voters can’t know what they are voting on.
The pro-life group released a statement to LifeNews.com about the ad with a laundry list of refutations.
"The law that appears on the ballot as Initiated Measure 11 is an extremely well written and well crafted law. The law was drafted by South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long … who assembled and presided over a panel of eleven legal experts for the purpose of insuring that the law was well crafted," the group explains.
The group said the notion that voters have already considered this measure is misleading because IM 11 is a different abortion ban that responds to the voters’ request to ban abortions but include rape and incest exceptions.
Vote Yes for Life calls the “Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome” claim false and a "shameful exploitation of the mother shown on the ad who lost her child."
"Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome is a very rare complication that threatens the life of the babies in utero. However, today there are modern medical procedures that are used to save the children," the group says.
"If, however, one of the children dies in utero as a result of those medical interventions, the loss of the baby does not violate the law under Initiated Measure 11. The claim that the mother, under the new law, could not have had a procedure to save the life of one or both of those children is totally false," it adds.
Ultimately, the group says voters have plenty of information about the abortion ban and what it does and doesn’t do.
The group is confident that voters will approve this measure, which abortion advocates are expected to take to court following any approval.
Related web sites:
Vote Yes for Life – https://www.voteyesforlife.com
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