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Political columnist to kick off McGovern Film Series at DWU

MITCHELL — Denise Ross, documentary filmmaker and longtime South Dakota political columnist, will be the first presenter of the 2009-2010 McGovern Film Series at Dakota Wesleyan University.

Ross will present and discuss her 2008 documentary, “Unplanned Democracy: America's First Vote on Abortion,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in Room 126 of the McGovern Library on the DWU campus.

“Denise is a long-time respected political journalist in our state,” said Donald Simmons, director of the McGovern Center at Dakota Wesleyan University. “And her film really gets to the heart of abortion politics in South Dakota.”

The film, written by Ross and edited by Brad Dumke, tackles the controversial topic of abortion, which captured the attention of South Dakotans during the 2006 election cycle after the state legislature voted to ban abortion with an eye toward overturning the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. The story did not end there, however, as another similar bill in 2008, this time with rape and incest exceptions, served as a flashpoint for the continuation of the battle over abortion in the state.

“When I first spoke to Denise in 2006 about the possibility of visiting DWU to speak and show her film when completed,” Simmons said, “neither one of us had any idea that abortion would become such a dominant ballot issue. This is a unique opportunity to listen to one of the best documentary filmmakers and political minds working in our state today.”

For more information about the public service and leadership program at Dakota Wesleyan University, contact Simmons at 995-2937, or dosimmon@dwu.edu.