It is clear by now that the state of South Dakota has a legislature and a governor willing to stand up to pro-abortion pressure and do the right thing. That is why the state became the first in the nation to pass an uncompromising ban affecting all surgical and medical abortions.

We also know that almost immediately after Gov. Mike Rounds signed the bill into law, ideologues from Planned Parenthood and other like-minded organizations took to the South Dakota streets to overturn the ban by collecting signatures for a ballot proposal. These abortion peddlers are convinced that if given the choice, voters in South Dakota would be against the abortion ban and would line up to repeal it this November.

Initial signs are that the abortion supporters are up against a tough crowd in South Dakota. In the primary elections that were held this past June 6, every legislator who voted in favor of the abortion ban and was challenged in the primary – and won. Four legislators who voted against the abortion ban were defeated – largely because they voted against the proposal to protect preborn babies once they implant in their mothers’ wombs.

Something is going on in South Dakota that should give the willies to abortion proponents from one end of America to the other. Election results such as these don’t lie; they happened because the people voted and it would seem that in South Dakota the people voted for life. That’s the good news.

But Planned Parenthood is not taking this lying down. In fact Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s national president, put it this way recently: “We’re taking on the opponents of choice in the states and the districts where they live …Planned Parenthood has got to become more political so that health care can become less politicized.”

Richards claims that her organization is the most powerful force in health care today and that Planned Parenthood can “swing the vote” in every election. She seems to think that child killing is a form of health care, and that reproductive choices must include the decision to end another person’s life – for any reason whatsoever. She further appears to believe that this newly defined power will alter the course of political history everywhere, including South Dakota.

While her view doesn’t ring quite true if one examines the primary results in South Dakota, it could present a problem to pro-lifers if they rest on their well-deserved laurels and don’t do the daily work that must be done to carry the momentum forward to a total victory for the babies.

There’s something else about Richards’ words that should give us cause for hope. For decades Planned Parenthood has been using its tax-deductible status to register voters, to quietly assist politicians and to lobby lawmakers for the types of funding bills that result in the millions they get each year from local, state and federal sources. It is no secret that Planned Parenthood has a financial interest, as well as a social interest in protecting the so-called right to abortion. Planned Parenthood has made every effort possible to carry on founder Margaret Sanger’s objective of “unlimited sexual gratification without the burden of unwanted children.”

Planned Parenthood has soiled the innocent minds of millions of children; it has enabled unknown numbers of fathers to get off the proverbial hook by enabling the silent killing of the babies they have fathered.

Despite of all this, I get the distinct impression that Planned Parenthood, and its allies, are frightened by the very idea that a state legislature would actually take a principled stand in defense of human beings before they are born. After the decades of multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, self-promoting and sloganeering, Planned Parenthood’s leaders are beginning to see a decline in public support for direct killing. They are worried; they are frantic and they have every right to be. The truth is beginning to have an effect.

That is why South Dakota has become a watershed event. In fact I dare say South Dakota is a do or die situation for those who make their living by selling killing. So what are the good people of South Dakota going to do, now that they have set the standard, raised the ante and voiced their support by tossing the pro-abort scoundrels out in the primary?

My gut feeling is that they are not going to back off the abortion ban. As Leslee Unruh, one of South Dakota’s pro-life leaders said, “South Dakotans are proud of the bold legislation passed this past session. The incumbent legislators who voted in favor of women’s health and babies’ lives won their races. They are vindicated.”

Now South Dakota’s pro-lifers will be working to get that message out to every registered voter in the state because the abortion promoters, with their out-of-state funding and deceptive marketing, are going to be pressing hard for a popular vote to toss out the ban through a referendum that is expected to be placed on the November ballot. Pro-lifers will be busily engaging their fellow citizens in discussions, clearing away the myths that surround such red herrings as “abortion in the case of rape and incest.” They will be using common sense to explain why sexual assault victims do not favor deadly assaults on innocent babies.

This is a great moment in America’s history, and it is clear that we are witnessing a significant change in the way average citizens perceive the child before birth and his right to be protected under the law. This is a golden opportunity to advance consistent principles that have always been the foundation of pro-life efforts, not only in South Dakota but around the nation. This is an exciting time to be pro-life.

But let’s be clear. Nobody is taking it for granted that the pro-life side will score a slam dunk without a fight in South Dakota. The bell has sounded; pro-lifers are up for the task ahead.


Judie Brown is president and co-founder of American Life League, the nation's largest Catholic pro-life educational grassroots organization. She is a recognized expert on the sanctity of human life, member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and the author of three books.