The South Dakota legislature just voted for HB1215, a bill outlawing all abortions in the state unless the health of the mother is in jeopardy. The bill is now sitting on the desk of the governor, Mike Rounds. This has me more conflicted than i have ever been on this issue. Here is the article from the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader (http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/NEWS/602250333/1001)
When you talk about abrotion, I am decidedly pro-life in EVERY case. For religious and practical reasons both, I feel a society that does not get the most out of its entire populous is headed for decline. I think of abortion in the same way that I do slavery. Its hard and death infliced on a party of society that have no power and choice in their condition. Abortion further angers me because it has helped create a cultrue of irresponsiblity--especially of men, who feel like they can do what they want and assume an abortion can fix everything.
However, politically, i am worried about the issue coming form a centrist/suburban area. Abortion is an issue that just is red hot. As a poltiical issue, my thinking comes closer to Tom Davis on this. I worry about how Republicans would fare in places like Northern Virginia if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. Davis argued a couple of months ago that if the landmark 1973 case where to be overturned, "'you're going to have a lot of very nervous suburban candidate." Republican strongholds would be ever strong, and so would Democratic ones. But a place like NoVa, already teetering on the edge to leaving the Republicans, might completley fall to the left if something like this happened.
The brings home the hardest part about being a conservative up here. How can you reconcile your principles with winning elections. Because if you lose elections, you can't do anything. Or you can just stand up and lead, even in the face of losing. The effects of outlawing abortion in this country would be seismic. Would I be happy? Morally, yes. Abortion is barbaric and does nothing but hurt our society in almsot every way. But what will its effects be politically. I tend to worry, much like Rep. Davis, that places like Northern Virginia might be lost forever. I even feel guilty weighing poltiical considerations against this, but as conservatives we have so much yet to accomplish, and we can only do that in the majority.
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