Index of University Press Releases

Oct. 26, 2007

Panel discusses impact of failed abortion measure
Ross Dolan • The Daily Republic

Students in Dusty Johnson’s policy formation class at Dakota Wesleyan University on Thursday heard first-hand accounts of the passion and politics that led to Referred Law 6 and the repeal of a 2006 state law banning abortion.

Johnson, chairman of the state Public Utilities Commission, also is the first visiting professor of leadership and public service at the McGovern Center for Leadership and Public Service.

Center stage was a trio of panelists, all of whom were involved in events leading up to the abortion ban as well as the efforts to overturn the law. Panel members included Lee Schoenbeck, a Sioux Falls attorney and former president pro tem of the state Senate; Kate Looby, director of South Dakota Planned Parenthood; and journalist, blogger and documentary filmmaker Denise Ross.

Ross, who covered state politics for the Rapid City Journal for 10 years, said the attempt to ban abortions had an agenda that went beyond South Dakota.

“The whole point was to overturn Roe v. Wade,” she said. “We’re talking about creating public policy in Pierre that could very well affect the entire country.”

Ross showed clips from her documentary film “Unplanned Democracy: America’s First Vote on Abortion”— the trailer is posted on YouTube — which attempts to grapple with the powerful sweep of events leading up to Referred Law 6.

Schoenbeck spoke briefly about 2004’s HB 1191, the state Legislature’s first attempt to push through an abortion ban, including the maneuvering, deal-making and, in his opinion, betrayals that would end with its failure.

Gov. Mike Rounds, despite an early promise to support the bill, in the end vetoed it on the basis of “style and form.” The Senate failed to approve changes and killed the bill.

Looby, hired by Planned Parenthood in 2003, said she was a “deer in the headlights,” when the 2004 abortion bill was launched. Abortion had never been attacked at that level in the past, she said.

She said a barely noticed 2005 attempt by Sen. Frank Kloucek to reintroduce the abortion ban was killed in committee. Instead, the Legislature created a task force with HB 1233 to study abortion, which she called a “sham” and a “farce.”

Both sides spent 2005 preparing for the next abortion battle.

“We learned the importance of getting out the message,” she told students.

Schoenbeck grudgingly complimented Looby for both her effective campaign and use of the press.

With about two-thirds of both houses favoring the abortion ban in 2006, its passage was all but assured, said Schoenbeck.

“We didn’t need the press,” he said.

But Ross countered that anyone who doesn’t use the media is “missing a huge opportunity.”

Schoenbeck said Looby’s message that the Legislature spent an inordinate amount of time on abortion issues was effective but inaccurate.

“We’ve dedicated less than 3 percent of our time to abortion issues,” he said.

The documentary on which Ross is working paints South Dakotans as “cowboy conservative.”

Looby said passage of the abortion ban angered many South Dakotans. Rallies against the new abortion ban gave her group confidence it could be defeated. About 17,000 signatures were needed to put the issue to a public referendum, but more than 35,000 were gathered, well before deadline. All signatures were gathered by volunteers, she said.

Schoenbeck said about 44 percent of those who voted wanted a strong anti-abortion law. If more allowances were made for rape and incest, he predicted the law would have won with 75 percent of the vote.

All panelists expressed belief that the abortion issue will return, though Looby said there’s a certain amount of abortion discussion fatigue in the state.

“It was an angry, contentious issue that pitted neighbor against neighbor,” she said.

“I firmly believe we’ll be voting on this again in a year,” said Ross.