The AP continues:
Planned Parenthood, which operates the state's only abortion clinic in Sioux Falls, has pledged it will challenge the measure in court. About 800 abortions are done each year in South Dakota.
Rounds allowed a photograph to be taken when he signed the bill, but he said he would decline all media requests for interviews on Monday.
In a written statement, the governor said he expects the law will be tied up in court for years and will not take effect unless the U.S. Supreme Court upholds it.
"In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them," Rounds said in the statement.
The Legislature passed the bill after supporters said the recent appointment of conservative justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito have made the U.S. Supreme Court more likely to overturn its
1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. South Dakota lawmakers believe President Bush may have a chance to appoint a third justice in the years before the legal battle over the South Dakota law reaches the nation's highest court.
The abortion ban would take effect July 1, but a federal judge is likely to suspend the abortion ban during the legal challenge. That means it would never take effect unless the state gets the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and wins.
Rounds has said abortion opponents have already started offering money to help the state pay legal bills for the anticipated court challenge. Lawmakers also said an anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to defend the ban, and the Legislature set up a special account to accept donations for legal fees.
Under the law signed by Rounds, doctors could get up to five years in prison for performing an illegal abortion. The measure also contains language that the Legislature finds that scientific advances since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 have demonstrated that life begins at conception.
Rounds issued a technical veto of a similar bill passed two years ago because it would have wiped out all existing restrictions on abortion while the bill was tied up for years in a court challenge. The statement he issued Monday noted that this year's bill was written to make sure existing restrictions will be enforced during the legal battle.
Planned Parenthood's statement:
NEW YORK "” Planned Parenthood denounced South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds' signing of the South Dakota abortion ban today, vowing to fight the ban in court to protect the rights and health of women and families in South Dakota and across the country.
"South Dakota has made abortion a criminal act. Ever since the South Dakota legislators cast their votes last week, people across the country have been calling Planned Parenthood in shock, fear, and outrage," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards. "A 92-year-old woman, horrified by the governor's action, picked up the phone to make her first-ever gift to the reproductive rights movement, and a mother of three called us, crying, to send her support. And South Dakota may not be the only state to ban abortion "” 10 other states currently have abortion ban bills pending."
Across the country, anti-choice politicians are creating a gauntlet of legislation that attempts to put roadblocks between women and reproductive health care. Currently there are approximately 850 pieces of state legislation related to choice "” only a small minority of which support women"™s access to reproductive health services. Eighteen states are currently considering a range of abortion bans that take decisions about health care out of the hands of women, their families and their doctors. Ten of those states are considering bans similar to that of South Dakota, or laws that would ban abortion automatically if Roe were overturned. They include: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
"This is proof-positive that Governor Rounds cares more about politics than about the health and safety of women in South Dakota," said Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota North Dakota South Dakota. "In every state, women, their families, and their doctors should be making private, personal health care decisions "” not politicians."
"These abortion bans, and the politicians supporting them, are far outside the mainstream of America," added Richards. "Planned Parenthood will fight these attacks in court, in the state houses, and at the ballot boxes, to ensure that women, with their doctors and families, continue to be able to make personal health care decisions without government interference."
Family Research Council's statement:
Washington, D.C. - Today, South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signed into law the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act, which bans abortion except to save a woman's life. Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins released the following statement:
"This is how our system of government should work. The elected representatives of the people set policy that is reflective of the people they represent. For far too long, elected leaders have based their policy decisions upon how a judge or judges might react to the enacted policy. The South Dakota legislature sent a bold statement to the rest of the nation that the day of judicial intimidation is over; human life will be protected in South Dakota.
"The passage of this law is a reflection of growing pro-life sentiment across the country and points toward a post-Roe era. Technology and information about embryonic and prenatal development have steadily overcome the myths and lies about abortion and the millions of babies whose lives have been destroyed by it. Give the people or their elected representatives a voice and you will find that most of America wants major changes in the abortion-on-demand regime that has stood only by judicial fiat for 33 years."
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South Dakota Governor signs abortion ban !!
