Victory

BLOG: South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families

  • June 1, 2009

    Remaining Diligent and Organized

Everyone at the SD Campaign for Healthy Families is still grateful and energized after our incredible victory last year and we haven’t slowed down. If the past 3 years have taught us anything it is that abortion ban proponents never sit still for long. So, following our 2006 victory we asked for your continued support and carried our momentum forward.

We began the 2008 abortion ban campaign as an underdog. Polling in 2006 predicted that a moderate version of that year’s abortion ban would pass easily – by a vote of 59% Yes to 29% No. Our opponents were overconfident at the start of the election. During a 2008 interview with KARE 11, Leslee Unruh of VoteYesForLife.com was asked what polling indicated for her organization, and she responded simply, “We win.”

We didn’t accept her conclusion and neither did you. Thanks to the efforts of our supporters and volunteers across the state, they didn’t win. For the second time in two consecutive elections, voters rejected an attempt to ban abortion in South Dakota.

Our success extends beyond the past two elections. Since 2006, the SD Campaign for Healthy Families has worked during South Dakota’s legislative sessions. We have organized to defeat legislation that would restrict access to reproductive health care programs. When Unruh and other anti-choice activists tried to pass a punitive restriction on abortion in 2009, we helped defeat that bill.

That same year, the SD Campaign for Healthy Families led an effort to prevent insurance companies from excluding contraceptives from prescription drug coverage. While the contraceptive equity bill did not pass the first time around, we will be back next year to raise awareness on this issue and promote measures that expand access to contraceptives.

As the last election proved, the Legislature is not the only way that anti-choice activists are advancing their agenda. During that same KARE 11 interview, Unruh signaled her commitment to bring another abortion ban to the ballot if the 2008 measure failed.

We cannot take anything for granted. We must be prepared to defeat future attempts to ban abortion in our state – whether in the form of a personhood amendment, initiative or legislative proposal.

Thank you for your continued support of our organization, which enables us to continue advocating for expanded access to contraception and defend against future attempts to ban abortion.