What is ‘extreme’ when discussing abortion? Denying women the right to choose seems to be the true outrage
Today’s word is: EXTREME
Yard signs scattered around the state encourage a no vote on Amendment G (proponents gathering signatures for the amendment’s spot on the November ballot are shown above in an image from the Dakotans for Health Facebook page) which would affirm a constitutional right to choose abortion in South Dakota.
The signs say “IT’S TOO EXTREME.”
This would seem to indicate a willingness to accept a less-extreme abortion rights law, but history tells us that is not true.
Forceful arguments about abortion come from both sides; all right-to-life proponents are not extreme zealots. However, the consequences of their uncompromising approach are often beyond unreasonable — and extreme.
Is imposing government as decision-maker extreme as it takes a choice away from a woman and her doctor and her family?
Forcing a child raped by her stepfather and pregnant to carry to full term seems extreme. Or a woman of any age in similar, tragic circumstances.
Extreme criteria for life- and health-saving measures in crisis pregnancies cause uncertainty for doctors and tragic consequences for women.
Making a woman drive hundreds of miles to access reproductive health services can be extremely costly for someone desperate for help.
Bullying, impeding, shaming, screaming and otherwise stalking women accessing abortion-service locations is extremely cruel and often illegal.
Threatening abortion doctors and their families to force them out of a community would seem to be extremely contrary actions for those professing piety.
In 2006 and again in 2008, South Dakota voters twice solidly approved abortion rights. Defiantly enacting contrary legislation is extremely arrogant, political, and unethical — but not uncommon by our folks in Pierre.
Referring to tragic, agonizing early deaths of babies born with unsustainable life as “post-birth abortion” is extremely political — and disgustingly vile.
Gagging doctors and not allowing them to give patients advice based on trained medical knowledge is an extremely unconstitutional limit on free speech.
Outlawing travel over state lines for abortions is extremely oppressive and also probably unconstitutional. As is criminalizing any action helping them.
Forcing women who choose to have an abortion to wait days to think it over is extremely condescending and humiliating.
Blatant support of anti-abortion candidates from church pulpits is an extreme and obvious, though unenforced, violation of limitations on churches getting tax breaks.
Calling those who have found themselves having to choose abortion “baby killers” does also seem a bit extreme — or have we heard it so much it’s lost its impact?
South Dakota residents now have to fight this out a third time. After losing decisively the first two tries, if you are arguing this time it’s too extreme, just know you’ve brought this on yourselves.
Mike Levsen is a former Aberdeen mayor and a regular contributor to The South Dakota Standard.
