.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Born at the Crest of the Empire

Monday, March 06, 2006

More from South Dakota.

The mother of a dear friend of mine lives in South Dakota, and she just emailed this to me. (I'm going to cut it up a little bit.)
Mike, prior to passing HB1086 discussed below, the legislators killed in committee, by 11 to 0, a bill to automatically terminate, at the time of sentencing for a convicted rapist or incest perpetrator all parental rights to the child conceived as the result of the rape or incest. ...

And then in a letter to the governor she writes:

If HB1215 becomes a law, South Dakota government first forces women, when a delay prohibits their use of emergency contraception, to carry to term children conceived as the result of rape or incest.

Then, the forcibly or illegally impregnated woman may, through HB1086, be forced to co-parent with her aggressor if she chooses to keep the child or if the rapist/incest perpetrator refuses consent for her to place the child for adoption. The only other option available to the victim of the crime is to place the child in foster care, where the criminal can reclaim the child upon release from prison. Surely, such possibilities are unconscionable to you.


Just think about that for a minute. Under current South Dakota law, taking into account the total abortion ban signed today by the governor, it is completely realistic that a woman who has been raped will have to carry the baby to term, and then potentially come into repeated contact with her rapist in court hearings and, at the very least, child visitation.

And even if the whole thing is managed through social services somehow, imagine how it would feel when you're child comes home from his "visit" and tells you how great his dad is.

Just how sick are these South Dakota politicians?

(Thanks a ton, Ginny. There's no way to know about things like this unless I were local to S.D. and active. Keep at it.)

(And, other bloggers, please feel free to repost this and propagate it like crazy. I haven't seen anything about this anywhere else, and I think it needs to be out there growing. - Mike)

15 Comments:

  • Un-f'ing-believable. Pardon me, but oh my gosh. How come THAT little chestnut wasn't part of ANY of the news reports I saw or read about this monstrosity today?

    It just gets worse by the day.

    By Blogger QuakerDave, at 9:17 PM  

  • Yeah, Dave. This is the "Christian America" they're trying to claim god wants.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 9:29 PM  

  • South Dakota is close to Kansas so the book, What's the Matter with Kansas doesn't stop at the state line.

    Same bunch of rabid, Christian zealots.

    By Blogger liberal_dem, at 9:35 PM  

  • I sometimes get hyberbolic when ranting about christianity, but actually, christianity, as it was taught to me, is pretty cool.

    It's just this crazy theocracy crap christianity that makes me nuts. It's the merger of christianity and state and the use of their claim of god to impose their will on others that I find evil.

    Weren't we warned about people claiming to speak the word of god. Something about a false prophet.

    That's not the christianity I was taught. Tolerance, love, poverty, humility.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:30 PM  

  • Those legislators in SD are a bunch of non thinking Christocratic ass holes.

    By Blogger Yukkione, at 10:37 PM  

  • Reprehensible. South Dakotan women are now reduced to a single choice: Whether to stay and live a Handmaid's Tale existence or to leave.

    I've linked your post.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:15 AM  

  • I was reading how they're waiting for Stevens to die, hopefully by the time it reaches the Supreme Court. By that time they figure they'll own the court. I thought they already did, actually...

    By Blogger Neil Shakespeare, at 3:03 AM  

  • nice post. that is really just crazy stuff. i really don't know what to say. I linked to you on this

    By Blogger Graeme, at 3:39 AM  

  • All I know is the F'king Fundi's only care about the fetus..once its born ..its buh bye..they don't give two shits about it. Where is their compassion as supposed Christians? Did the a'holes leave it somewhere?

    By Blogger Unknown, at 4:59 AM  

  • This is more reminiscent of the Taliban than America. What's next, we make women in South Dakota wear burkas?

    By Blogger Ryan, at 9:37 AM  

  • This has nothing to do with Christianity. It has to do with misogyny in the guise of morality, done at the hands of insecure, contempt-filled men.

    Despite shrill objections from the Moral Minority, there are many voices claiming the imprimatur of Christ. Unfortunately, it's the most strident, militant and LOUD voices that are heard by most media. This gives them power and credibility beyond their proportions.

    People who believe in an omnipotent God of judgment should tread far more softly than they do in their claims to be doing His will. Their own scripture warns them as much.

    By Blogger -epm, at 11:00 AM  

  • Ryan: The women with whom I teach were actually making that same remark today, about the burkas...

    If you have a wife, daughter, sister, mother, female friend, or female colleague about whom you give a damn, you should be angry.

    If you give a damn about YOUR COUNTRY, you should be angry. And motivated to do something.

    I consider myself a Christian. This is not the Christ or the Christianity I recognize. These people are no better than the bombers and zealots who give Islam a bad name.

    Julian Bond said it right: They ARE the American Taliban.

    By Blogger QuakerDave, at 11:12 AM  

  • Linking to this post, btw.

    By Blogger QuakerDave, at 11:14 AM  

  • Thanks folks. I really think this is important context for the whole SD abortion ban story.

    I'm trying to get it as broad as I can. I don't want credit, I don't need my name used. I just want this story out there.

    I think it would really affect the politics of this.

    Mike

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 11:17 AM  

  • Unconscionable. These are sick, ignorant louts who've never gotten over the spin of Eve "tempting man" and are intent on punishing women for eternity.

    By Blogger Motherlode, at 2:52 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home