Abortion

Eric Rodawig, writing for Georgetown University's The Hoya, tackles South Dakota's ban of abortion.  Excerpt:

Everyone celebrating or bemoaning the ban first needs to realize that HB1215 will have little practical effect on South Dakota.

There is only one abortion clinic in the state, and it is only open once a week. A rotating set of Minnesotan doctors fly in to service the clinic, since no doctor in the state will perform abortions due to personal beliefs and/or fear of stigma. Over a million abortions are performed in America each year, but only about 800 of them happen in South Dakota.

The abortion ban will, however, have three more abstract effects. Obviously, it is a shot across the bow of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide. Also, regardless of the outcome of any legal challenges, the new law will have a tremendous effect on framing future debate about abortion. Finally, it will clearly illustrate that there are no longer two sides to the abortion debate — there are three.

Read the whole thing.