Coat Hangers At Dawn

Following the attempts by the fundamentalist extremist religious right in South Dakota to ban contraception, abortion, sex ed and their war on everyone who disagrees with them.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Crazy

This one is enough to make your head spin. Minus Car weighed in on the current religio-political mess.

"In a world where these two things are linked from a Sunday morning church pulpit less than a mile from my home by the simple explanation that gay people are orchestrating an effort to make same sex marriage legal so that they can “sweep in and take the babies” that are no longer going to be aborted."

Just when we think the far religious right could not fall further over the cliff of insanity we hear of a gem like this.

How To Move South Dakota Ahead? Common Ground

The dems announced their Common Ground plan yesterday. SD Progressive has a good rundown and more links.

As it sits your choices when you vote are:

A. Negative complaining.
Do nothing.
Pass some harsh morality laws.
Kick out anyone who has a slightly differing opinion.
Secretive closed government.

B. A solid plan to address the real issues to improve life for everyone in South Dakota.
A realistic look at where money is spent to get the most for our dollars.
Dedication to education and the state economy.
Respect for differing viewpoints.
Honest and open government.

Uh. We'll take B.

What was the main criticism by Republicans?

This would cost money.
No not really. But we know they really don't have any other response to make. Fear and greed are good motivators but they are wrong.

The dedication to looking at where money is spent will bring more revenue to be then better spent. We also have over a billion dollar state reserve. There are other ways to increase state revenue without burdening everyone with higher taxes on their income or property.

This is about generating the things that kickstart a state, not giving socialist handouts as some in the GOP try to paint it. Stimulating the things that then can take off on their own like better education, new in state businesses, better jobs and supporting the states assets like ethanol.

Its time to move South Dakota forward.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Senate To Vote On Interstate Abortion Transportation Act

The Religious Coalition For Reproductive Choice just issued a news release that the US Senate is going to vote on a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to transport a teenager across state lines to obtain an abortion. This would include grandparents, aunts, cousins etc.

If you don't think parental notification type laws are dangerous, read the story of Becky Bell.
Becky was an Indiana teen who died after an illegal abortion. She opted for this to avoid the state parental notification laws. Becky died in 1988. The FX Networks show 30 Days recently did an episode that featured the death of Becky Bell.

Contact our Senators and tell them this is a bad idea.

The news release from RCRC below

The Senate is poised to vote on a dangerous bill that restricts young women’s access to abortion by the end of the week. We are asking you to act quickly to try to stop it.

Please call your senators now and tell them they must vote against S. 403, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA).
We had been successful in holding off a vote on this bill for several years. But a few days ago, the House of Representatives voted on a new version of CIANA (also known as the Child Custody Protection Act). If the Senate passes the same bill as the House, it is likely the President will sign it into law immediately. The House and Senate acted suddenly, and we must respond by flooding Senate offices with phone calls in support of young women.

CIANA would make it a crime for anyone other than a parent to accompany a minor across state lines for an abortion unless she has met the parental notice laws in both states. The law holds doctors criminally liable for enforcement, and clergy, grandparents, and older siblings face felony penalties if they accompany a young woman to another state to have an abortion. Most young women do involve a parent in a decision about a pregnancy. Those who do not often have good reasons, such as fear of violence, being forced to leave home, or being a victim of rape or incest.

Clergy leaders of RCRC have testified against this dangerous bill several times. The Senate must vote against it.

Call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your senators. Tell them to oppose S. 403, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.

Reverend Carlton W. Veazey
President, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

40 Days Left - Time To Get Off Your Backsides

There are 40 days left til election day. If you have not already done something to help change the direction of our state and reject the abortion ban, now is the time.

Clean Cut Kid last week urged everyone to "Put up or shut up." He's right. If your mad about the actions of our state legislature. If your mad because they wasted time on divisive morality legislation while ignoring the real issues of South Dakota like education, the state economy, jobs, and healthcare do something about it. Even if you just give an afternoon or evening to lick stamps or put up signs, your still helping. Too busy? Get out your check book. Ten bucks is ten bucks.

South Dakota Healthy Families is still looking for volunteers to man phone banks and canvas neighborhoods.

SD Progressive also reminded that the new TV spot from SDCHF is ready and they need donations to buy TV advertising slots.

Thune Rejects The SD Abortion Ban

Thune has now added his voice to the chorus of influential people, political leaders, physicians and groups speaking out against the abortion ban.

In today's Argus:
"Thune acknowledged his own view differs from the new state law, which makes no provisions for abortions following rape or incest or to protect the health of the mother."

Thune stated further that he feels he is pro life but could not support a ban without those important exceptions.

What The Anti-Choice Activists Are Up To

This local group is encouraging churches to not only "educate" people about their view of the abortion ban but they are outright telling them how to vote on the issue - repeatedly. According to the IRS rules, churches can educate about an issue but not outright tell members how to vote on an issue or a candidate. Someone may want to give the IRS a call.

Ban Supporters Rachet Up The Hostility In Rapid City

Robbinsdale Radical has a great piece complete with pictures on an informational meeting held in Rapid City last night featuring Dr. Marv Buehner, discussing the negative effects of Referred Law 6.

Angry ban supporters were outside yelling at and harassing people attempting to enter the building. They didn't want their pictures taken but had no problem taking video tape of people attempting to attend the meeting.

The meeting could have been very informative had the hostile protestors chosen to stop their angry rhetoric for a moment and actually listened to the women who spoke out about their health.
When pregnancy can lead to blindness, stroke, kidney failure or other major permanent medical complications it becomes a whole different thing than the happy simple cliche the anti-choice activists try to paint it.

Having differing opinions is one thing. Verbally abusing, harassing, intimidating and attempting to threaten those who disagree with you is quite another.

SD Ob-Gyn Group Speaks Out Against The Abortion Ban

"The South Dakota Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists - which includes 89 board-certified ob-gyns across the state - in a statement said the measure should be rejected "for the sake of women's health in South Dakota and for the protection of medical decision-making within our state."

Previously the South Dakota State Medical Association also rejected the ban. The 1600 South Dakota doctors said the law was too extreme and impeded proper medical care by doctors for their patients.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

40% Of Pro Life Women Have Abortions

So much for the claims that liberals, progressives or Democrats are the only ones having abortions. This also shakes the claims that non-fundamentalists are eroding their numbers through abortion.

27% of Catholic women and 13% of Evangelical women have had abortions.

Even Focus On The Family admits this. They are stating older and even higher statistics in their campaign earlier in the year to shame female church goers.
"Focus on the Family refers to Guttmacher research that one in five women who have abortions are "self-identified" as "Evangelical Christians." This is not counting Catholic women in their 1 in 5 statement.

So there are at least two things Guttmacher and Focus On The Family can agree on and that is that the blanket pro life churches have plenty of women in the pews opting for abortion despite the anti-choice stance of their church.

Sen. Johson Supports Overturning Ban

Senator Johnson has been reported to be in support of overturning the abortion ban.
He cited the lack of rape and incest exception.

Blanchard Swings And Misses

This is becoming amusing, watching Blanchard fail miserably to defend the undefendable. Please note that he provided not a single shred of evidence to back up his excuses, not one. Anyone who has followed events in South Dakota knows the truth.

"To say that "banning contraception is a key agenda item of the "pro life" movement," is nonsense. "
Would you care to provide some facts to back that up? Cite your sources. You know, like every college student is expected to do on a paper?

"Abstinence Clearinghouse, and One More Soul look to be rather ordinary, religiously based advocacy groups. They are clearly aimed at persuading people to delay sex until marriage, and not to use contraceptives. "

You admitted it yourself that they want to pursuade people to not use contraception and that this is the agenda of these groups and obviously the people in them. The Unruh's and Dr. Ridder (members of these groups) both actively worked to push the abortion ban.

Have some more examples we found:

"Take Leslee Unruh, the South Dakota native considered the primary force behind the near-total ban on abortion in her state. Unruh is, in many ways, the perfect representative of the modern pro-life movement. She is lauded in pro-life circles as the president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, a group that promotes abstinence-until-marriage. Under Unruh’s leadership, the Abstinence Clearinghouse has spearheaded campaigns to stop people from using the condom."

"Unruh and her pro-life colleagues have moved beyond attacking the condom, too. For example, when pharmacists refuse to fill birth control prescriptions, the pro-life movement has responded with a favorite tactic: it has moved aggressively to welcome their deeds as acts of “conscience.” The movement has helped pass laws allowing pharmacists to refuse on moral or religious grounds to fill birth control prescriptions in South Dakota—no surprise there"

"Over the past decade, pro-choice groups have tried to get contraception covered by health insurers as a sensible way to stop unintended pregnancies. Nearly every time, these initiatives have provoked intense battles in state legislatures. Right to Life chapters in Ohio, Delaware, Illinois, Oregon, Wisconsin, Nevada and Missouri all fought against state legislation to get birth control covered. Year after year the Pro-Life Caucus of Congress defeats federal legislation to require health insurers to pay for birth control."

"The American Life League explained, “We have been working to prove that prescription contraceptives have nothing to do with woman’s health and well-being but are recreational drugs that prevent fertilization and abort children.” "

"Some groups will use legal means to put pressure on candidates to adopt their anti-contraception view. For example, Northern Kentucky Right to Life will only endorse candidates who believe the use of the standard birth control pill constitutes abortion."


"We see a direct connection between the practice of contraception and the practice of abortion," says Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, an organization that has battled abortion for 27 years but that, like others, now has a larger mission. "The mind-set that invites a couple to use contraception is an antichild mind-set," she told me. "So when a baby is conceived accidentally, the couple already have this negative attitude toward the child. Therefore seeking an abortion is a natural outcome. We oppose all forms of contraception."

The American Life League is a lay Catholic organization.

BTW, ALL is very involved in the voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com group. Just listen to their phone conference.


Then Blanchard tried this spin on reality:
"The remaining links concern the question whether the state should pay for and help provide contraception. "
WRONG.
Maybe it depends on what he means as "help provide". If that means giving for free contraception or funding it, none of the measures in the legislature would have funded or given away contraception. Now, if you mean "help provide" as in the opposite of BAN, that is an interesting turn of a phrase. In that he would be stating that they should be allowed to ban contraception. Interesting word play indeed.

This is just another diversionary tactic.

The evidence is there. The same people who voted for the abortion ban also voted for every contraception restriction put forth in the legislature. If it walks like a duck.

Until Blanchard can come up with some real evidence to prove his point we suggest he go back to annoying and boring his students, oh and writing on his blog. AT STATE EXPENSE.

What Planned Parenthood Has Done To South Dakota

Robbinsdale Radical takes the anti choice activists to task for their constant misrepresentation of Planned Parenthood. "Planned Parenthood has prevented abortions by actually doing something about it. Instead of threatening violence or carrying bloody signs, or whining about sexual irresponsibility, PP has taken another path to prevent abortion. They, sometimes at risk their own safety, provide affordable women's health care, teach abstinence and sexual responsibility, and daily go to bat for women nationwide whenever their health is threatened by those that think they have the right to tell our spouses and daughters, and moms what to do."

We did some research on exactly what the presence of Planned Parenthood in South Dakota has done. Planned Parenthood opened their doors in South Dakota in 1990.

The annual number of legal abortions in South Dakota dropped by half right before Planned Parenthood opened, stayed at that half of previous mark and then dropped yet again in 1999 by about another 25-30%.

Since Planned Parenthood opened in South Dakota the abortion rate has continued to DROP, not rise.

Abortions per 1,000 women in South Dakota since 1991 increased by a small amount in the first year and then has decreased steadily until 2000 where there was a slight increase (still lower than previously). Overall the abortion rate since Planned Parenthood came to South Dakota is steadily down.

For all the screaming the anti choice activists do about Planned Parenthood being the cause of abortion in South Dakota, the numbers show that their presence has helped push the rate LOWER. Planned Parenthood has increased access to information and medical care to help people in South Dakota be responsible and control their reproductive lives. That has had the side effect of lowering the abortion rate in South Dakota.

Blanchard Proves Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

This has now hit the point of humor. Yesterday we dismantled Blanchard's claim that the pro life movement was not also actively trying to ban or restrict contraception. If you refer to yesterday's post you will see clear examples backed up with examples of those people and groups actively involved in the pro life movement and directly involved in the ban in South Dakota are also actively involved in restricting, eroding and outright banning contraception. We went so far as to link to the legislative actions and bills involved.

Now today these "professors" (using the term very loosely) are still trying to assert their claim that the pro life movement is not also after contraception. But do notice that they completely ignored all of the facts we presented. The facts like all of the people active in the SD ban also are actively involved in groups trying to restrict or ban contraception. Facts like all of the legislators who supported the ban also supported legislative action this session to restrict or ban access to contraception. But nooo there's no relation, nobody is trying to ban contraception?

Saying it "just isn't so" is one thing. Addressing the evidence proving it is so would be quite another. By not addressing the obvious evidence proving that these people are actively trying to ban contraception they are admitting guilt. Their attempt to distract from the facts is transparent.

So if they are supposedly right, why have they not presented a single fact to support their opinion that the pro life movement is not also after contraception? Hmmmm....

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Out Of State Activists In South Dakota

If you listened in on the "Emergency Briefing" call by voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com last week you know who Janet Folger is. She has a long track record of stirring up discord to line her purse promoting hate, intolerance and forced pregnancy.

During their emergency money begging session where they asked out of state activists to come to South Dakota (you can listen yourself here) Ms. Folger announced that she would be using her syndicated radio broadcast to push the South Dakota ban.

Ms. Folger's group has also set up this site to help push the abortion ban and to provide information to other out of state activists wanting to stick their noses into South Dakota.
So please take a moment to look at Ms. Folger's site. It includes a rundown of all the anti-choice groups in South Dakota, repeated references to the Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com group and even asking out of state students to come to South Dakota to help push the ban.

What was that about not asking out of state people to come here? Your busted.

Porkchop Goes On Tour!

Dr. Jane "Porkchop" Gaetz is taking her nonsense on tour with Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com.
Various churches around Sioux Falls have been spotted with signs promoting her as a speaker.
No doubt she will be filling them with the same misinformation she spewed at KDLT recently.

So who would you take your heath information from? A gynecological oncologist with years of experience or a doctor that does not have that as a specialty and is ignorant enough to align themselves with the likes of Leslee Unruh and Sibby?

Porkchop's claim that all women could be adequately treated for cancer while pregnant or put off treatment and not risk endangering their life or health is flat out wrong.

Here is a wonderful example of what Porkchop and the Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com people want for South Dakota women.

Mother of 9 dying of terminal cancer
after refusing to terminate the pregnancy and was unable to receive treatment while pregnant.
"Her son Pedro was born July 12th at 27 weeks gestation. The child weighed 2.4 pounds and is in intensive care with kidney and heart problems, according to CNA."

Mother Dies of Cancer to Save Life of Her Unborn Child
"A mother who developed cancer while pregnant with her fourth child has died after refusing treatment that would have harmed the baby." "She delivered a healthy son, Nathan, two months premature, and lived long enough to witness his baptism."

Both of these sources are from pro-life sites. This makes claiming the sources to be false propaganda quite difficult. These pro life sites are promoting both of these women, one dead and the other dying as how they think women should handle life threatening medical conditions.
The claims by voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com, that everything will turn out fine are completely false. They just want women to be part of their martyrdom program.

Is Blanchard Really This Stupid?

He is trying to claim that the Catholic Church has no interest in pushing their no contraception agenda on other people and that the current pro life movement isn't also interested in restricting or outright banning contraception as their next move. Banning contraception is a key agenda item of the "pro life" movement.

Here are the facts:
Abstinence Clearinghouse & Alpha Center - Against Contraception
Two key groups involved in the abortion ban, trying to remove sex ed from the schools and their members are all active in the anti-abortion movement and were key people in the ban.
They are members of the "pro life" movement.

Dr. Glenn Ridder - Against Contraception
He is a member of a group actively out to ban the use of all medical contraceptive means.
They feel for a number of reasons that they are bad or immoral.
Ridder was active in the abortion ban push, a member of voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com, doctor for Alpha Center & Abstinence Clearinghouse and very outspoken about his desire to restrict or ban contraception.
A member of the "pro life" movement.

Members of the South Dakota Legislature that voted for the abortion ban were also the same people who voted down a measure that would have required health insurers to cover contraceptives. These same people attempted to pass a measure that would have made it a crime for school staff to give or refer students for contraceptives or similar services. These same people attempted to make abstinence only the only sex ed taught in the public schools. This bill was sponsored by the same person who sponsored the abortion ban, good old Roger Hunt. These same people voted down a measure that would have made emergency contraception available in the emergency room and would have required staff to tell rape victims of its availability.
Follow the sponsorship and voting record. The same people who pushed the abortion ban also pushed all of the anti-contraception legislation. They were also the people that killed all of the legislation that would have permitted or encouraged contraceptive use.

What else do we need to prove to make this point? Blanchard's claim that the abortion ban promoters are not also trying to restrict contraception access is simply false. Why he is making such a claim that is easily proven wrong with verifiable publicly available data is beyond us.
Is he stupid or just thinks all of his readers are stupid and will believe it just because he writes it?

Monday, September 25, 2006

Episcopal Church Denounces Amendment C

The Episcopal Church in SD has joined two other mainstream denominations in denouncing the Marriage Amendment (Amendment C).

Read the details at Robbinsdale Radical . The resolution passed 4 to 1.

The United Methodist Church and United Church Christ in South Dakota have also specifically denounced this constitutional amendment.

Descrimination and intolerance are not South Dakota values.

It's Not About Abortion Silly!

Strip out all of the rhetoric from the anti-choice extremists and what is left? Listening to what the average anti-choice activist will tell you if you actually sit down in a long conversation of the issue, or what they say to each other will tell you.

This has nothing to do with reducing abortions or sanctity of life. They will tell you exactly what they are after. They wish to change the behavior of every other person in society. Their strategy is that if they can ban abortion and then ban contraception they will have painted everyone into a sexuality corner so to speak. Once painted in this corner with no legal access to abortion and no access to contraception that people will start behaving in chaste way. They hope that removing access to what helps people control their reproductive lives will force all of society to stop having sex. At least the sex they don't approve of. Their thought is that if it is too hard or the stakes are too high people will just stop having sex and be good little citzens, get married and churn out more little minds to be molded into the faithful.

They hope that once they have all of us boxed in on sex that we will either follow them to their version of religion or at least be forced to behave as they do, thus being less of a bother to them. They don't see the rest of society as having a different view, they see the rest of society as flawed and too stupid and that they must teach all of us the error of our ways because we do not carry their unique view.

The abortion ban has little to actually do with abortion. It has everything to do with the first steps of instilling forced morality law. Morality law created and determined by the most restrictive and punitive segment of our society that all of us will be forced to live under if we let it happen.

You can dis-approve of abortion all you want, but do you approve of allowing a segment of society to legislate your bedroom activities? This is their true goal.

Banning Contraception Is Next

Think were kidding? Think again.

We have been pointing this out for months but it must become part of the larger conversation on the abortion ban. The exact same people and groups pushing the abortion ban fully intend to ban contraception next. This is not speculation. This is their own very clear words.

The Chicago Tribune has a very telling article about the American Life League's recent rally pushing the faithful to work to ban contraception.

Their claims that contraception leads to abortion are totally unfounded. The countries where factual sex education and easy access to contraception exist have the lowest abortion rate.
France has held one of the worlds lowest abortion rates, as have the Scandinavian countries. The low abortion rates in these countries were attributed to accurate sex education, unrestricted access to contraception and a culture that does not shame sex or contraception use.
Despite the facts to the contrary, anti-choice groups still wish to ban contraception use. Since 98% of American women have used contraception and 91% of Americans think contraception should be available, this should be a large wake up call to people in South Dakota. Banning contraception is the ultimate goal of these groups. Banning abortion is simply the gateway to doing so.

Could Someone Update The SD Candidates Wiki?

Could someone in the know update the SD candidates wiki? Its a great idea but it appears to have not been updated for months. There are a number of candidates not on there and a couple that just say "petitions out" still.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

The Anti-Abortion Conference Call - UPDATE

The voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com crazies have finally publicly posted the recording of their conference call last week.

This call is very telling about what is really going on with the SD abortion ban, the true motivations behind it and how absolutely delusional the people involved are. The cult like carefully phrased methods used to convince people of their case, minus any factual basis gives a good insight into what is behind the anti-choice activists. The bit about having their own federal museum depicting them as heros is particularly creepy. Have no doubt the people who want this ban are on a religious crusade and they will say or do anything to get their way.

There was a large amount of misinformation in that call meant to rally their base. We want to make sure people know this before listening, they make many unsubstantiated claims or outright fabrications. It is still well worth a listen. Proud Liberal let us know that the link was up and none of us have listened to it to make sure they did not edit the recording.

Here is the required debunking:
SD Healthy Families is NOT a front group for Planned Parenthood, it is a grass roots involving people and people that also belong to a number of groups in the state.
All of the people who collected signatures were South Dakota citizens and were volunteers.
The vote count has been verified by the state already and there is no ongoing dispute or investigation into the petition signatures. Sec. of State Chris Nelson upheld the petitions months ago.
They spewed a bunch of other bunk about Planned Parenthood and the Democrats that we know to all be false and without merit.
The inspirational speaker they had "Gerri" in her speech failed to mention that she was involved in an abortion at 7 and a half months gestation. She gives the impression otherwise.
Her case is wildly rare all around and would have never happened under the current SD law in effect.


You can hear the recording here:
http://www.emergencysouthdakotabriefing.com/

Friday, September 22, 2006

Extremist Conference Call Hiding Their Content

During last nights "emergency briefing" conference call arranged by voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com and including people from various fanatical protest groups as speakers they stated that "they had nothing to hide'. They also said they would be putting their conference call up on their website Friday so the public could hear it...because they had nothing to hide.

Well, its Friday and the day is almost gone and the audio of their conference call is nowhere to be found. It was supposed to be on this site today. www.emergencysouthdakotabriefing.com.

It appears that the out of state extremists and voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com changed their minds and now want to HIDE the contents of that conference call. We were really hoping they would publish the conference call. We want the public to be able to hear exactly where these people are coming from because we think the average South Dakotan would find these people to be frighteningly out of touch with reality.

The conference call had a very militant and authoritarian religious tone to it. There was much talk about taking back this country for Christ. They consider the entire reproductive rights debate to be a holocaust where they will be honored as national heros and have their own museum. They actually literally stated that, pretty disturbing isn't it? These people are convinced that they are some sort of chosen warriors of god and appear to believe this. Combine that kind of schizophrenic mindset with the history of violence that many of these groups involved have. They talked in very exaggerated phrasing all of it placing them as some sort of chosen warriors here to do god's bidding against what they see as evil people. The evil people are all of us in South Dakota who are not joining their cause.

Now they are going back on their word that they would make the entire unedited call public. They obviously have something to hide from the public in South Dakota.

Vote Yes Confirms They Think You Should Die

We received this comment from a member of voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com yesterday.

"Most people would not fault her if she had taken the cancer treatments, but at the same time, we usually consider it noble when a mother risks her life for her child...unless the child is still in the womb, apparently."

This sounds like they are suggesting that it would be better and "noble" for a woman to die of cancer on the off chance the fetus might survive than to abort the pregnancy to get the cancer treatment that would save her life. They want the women of South Dakota to lay down their lives on the chance that you might produce another potential convert to their beliefs.

The real beliefs and intentions of those supporting the ban are starting to come out.

Mt. Blogmore Has More Information On The Protests

Blogmore has a thread with pictures (graphic) from the protest by Missionaries for the preborn in Rapid City.

People are not happy with the intrusion and harassment.
A comment from Blogmore:
"I was on the BHSU campus in Spearfish today. As I exited a building I walked past a man protesting with about four kids, (ages 7-10) within 20 feet of each other. The guy held out a pamphlet to me to which I said ‘no thank you’, as I started to walk past him he followed me for about 20 feet and yelled after me ‘ you’re a cold, cold women, who must hate children and want babies to die’ repetitively."

Citizens Of South Dakota vs Out Of State Extremists

South Dakota Progressive has more information on the strategy conference call yesterday by voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com
The blog post also has more details on their strategy and their begging for out of state money.

The ban supporters are trying to paint the effort to vote down the ban as not an in state effort.
How wrong can you get? 1200 citizens of South Dakota stood up and got out on the streets to try to stop this incursion by extremists into our state.

The effort to vote down the ban is a grass roots effort of the people. The large amount of verified signatures they collected is proof of the citizen support to trash this ban.

The ban supporters are begging out of staters to come protest, volunteer and send money because they can't find enough of any of those within the people of South Dakota.

Out Of State Protesters Creating Backlash In Rapid City

The RCJ has a front page story about a fanatical out of state group that Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com has encouraged to come to South Dakota to protest.

One anonymous poster online tried to claim that voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com is telling these fanatical out of state protesters to not come to South Dakota. This is FALSE. During their planning conference call they admitted they are directly coordinating with fanatical and violent groups like Operation Rescue and asking these groups to come to South Dakota. There is direct involvement and it shows exactly what the ban supporters are. They are a select few fanatics with ties to terrorism and violent groups.

This item about the group currently protesting around the state should be concerning to everyone in South Dakota:
"The Missionaries to the Preborn demonstrators were peaceful and orderly, but Trewhella is a controversial figure. He was videotaped in 1994 calling for churches to form militias and for parents to buy their children “an SKS rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition,” according to The New York Times. The paper also reported that James Charles Kopp, later convicted of murdering an abortion provider, had once applied for a drivers license using a Milwaukee address used by members of Missionaries to the Preborn."

If your not familiar with Kopp we suggest you read the link. This is the type of people who are coming to South Dakota to protest.

This group has created public anger not support everywhere they appear. There are reports that they showed up in Sioux Falls in front of the Wendy's and were asked to leave as they were disrupting business inside the store. They were cited at DSU forcing small children to hand out pamphlets. Reports stated that students were very angry about this group's presence and that they were not well received on campus. Now there are angry incidents in Rapid City.

The people supporting the abortion ban are encouraging these extremists with domestic terrorist ties to come to South Dakota to protest. If they had enough state support they would not need to ask dangerous extremists to come to South Dakota. Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com puts everyone in South Dakota at risk by inviting these dangerous groups into the state.

Some of the other protesters they have brought to South Dakota to help them:
Ronald Brock-Promotes killing doctors, has been arrested 80 times for protesting
Operation Rescue - Members involved in bombing, vandalism, money laundering and tax evasion.
Bound4Life - Called for the eradication of Islam, conducts disruptive "sieges" all over the country.
Missionaries to the Preborn - Violent protest group with ties to domestic terrorism, members have killed doctors. Supporters of the fascist Christian Reconstructionist movement.

Let people know that these protesters are NOT from South Dakota and are being brought in by Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com to try to influence and intimidate voters. Let people know how fanatical and dangerous these people are, many don't know exactly how over the edge these groups are unless someone tells them.

Out Of State Protesters Creating Backlash In Rapid City

The RCJ has a front page story about a fanatical out of state group that Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com has encouraged to come to South Dakota to protest.

One anonymous poster online tried to claim that voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com is telling these fanatical out of state protesters to not come to South Dakota. This is FALSE. During their planning conference call they admitted they are directly coordinating with fanatical and violent groups like Operation Rescue and asking these groups to come to South Dakota. There is direct involvement and it shows exactly what the ban supporters are. They are a select few fanatics with ties to terrorism and violent groups.

This item about the group currently protesting around the state should be concerning to everyone in South Dakota:
"The Missionaries to the Preborn demonstrators were peaceful and orderly, but Trewhella is a controversial figure. He was videotaped in 1994 calling for churches to form militias and for parents to buy their children “an SKS rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition,” according to The New York Times. The paper also reported that James Charles Kopp, later convicted of murdering an abortion provider, had once applied for a drivers license using a Milwaukee address used by members of Missionaries to the Preborn."

If your not familiar with Kopp we suggest you read the link. This is the type of people who are coming to South Dakota to protest.

This group has created public anger not support everywhere they appear. There are reports that they showed up in Sioux Falls in front of the Wendy's and were asked to leave as they were disrupting business inside the store. They were cited at DSU forcing small children to hand out pamphlets. Reports stated that students were very angry about this group's presence and that they were not well received on campus. Now there are angry incidents in Rapid City.

The people supporting the abortion ban are encouraging these extremists with domestic terrorist ties to come to South Dakota to protest. If they had enough state support they would not need to ask dangerous extremists to come to South Dakota. Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com puts everyone in South Dakota at risk by inviting these dangerous groups into the state.

Some of the other protesters they have brought to South Dakota to help them:
Ronald Brock-Promotes killing doctors, has been arrested 80 times for protesting
Operation Rescue - Members involved in bombing, vandalism, money laundering and tax evasion.
Bound4Life - Called for the eradication of Islam, conducts disruptive "sieges" all over the country.
Missionaries to the Preborn - Violent protest group with ties to domestic terrorism, members have killed doctors. Supporters of the fascist Christian Reconstructionist movement.

Let people know that these protesters are NOT from South Dakota and are being brought in by Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com to try to influence and intimidate voters. Let people know how fanatical and dangerous these people are, many don't know exactly how over the edge these groups are unless someone tells them.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

If You Can't Win With Facts - Bring In The Lawyers

Another milestone in the how low can you go behavior of the voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com extremists has been set.

PP at Dakota War College posted Tuesday that they are now having their lawyers send letters to TV stations demanding they remove the SD Healthy Families ad that is currently running.

The claim? False advertising. Yes on a political ad. If that isn't a can of worms.
They will lose on this tactic though.

Nothing in the ban gives an abortion exception for anyone except someone facing certain death.

They are trying to split hairs and intimidate TV stations into not giving air time. But in doing some looking into advertising law both state and federal they probably don't have a case.
Most advertising law applies to commerce and are tied to the buying and selling of goods and services. The information we could find apply to the business making the claim, NOT the TV station broadcasting them.

So why are they trying to bully TV stations into removing ads?

The Scoop On The Very Desperate Anti-choice Activist Conference Call

Pray and send money.

They are desperate for money and behind schedule.
They stated they they have to start buying media time in the next week and that they need a million dollars within the next week to do so. This says that they don't have enough money. If they had money they would have already started buying media time. The call repeatedly begged for money every way possible and it sounded very desperate.

The ban is a religious crusade.
The entire context of the call was based around religion and a christian crusade. After listening to this hour and a half phone call it was painfully clear that this ban has nothing to do with law and everything to do with a narrow religious agenda by extremists.

Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com is directly and heavily involved with these out of state fanatic groups and they are asking more of them to come to South Dakota to protest. Groups like Operation Rescue, American Life League, Father Frank Pavone (the priest who was with Randall Terry during Terri Schaivo), and Redeemed for Life. So all those obnoxious protesters that have already shown up from out of state. They are asking more of them to come to South Dakota. Wonder why? If there was supposedly support in South Dakota for this ban why are not South Dakota residents doing the protesting for them? Makes you go hmmm.

Their upcoming TV commercial will feature Mt. Rushmore.
Something about "our rocks cry out" and a bunch of out of context morality quotes supposedly from the presidents on Rushmore.

They do not want ANY exceptions in the abortion ban. They felt that exceptions even for the life of the mother provided "excuses". You got the clear impression that a fetus was more important than the woman carrying it. The woman speaking seemed to not even be happy about the death exception that is in there. Now THAT is scary.

They think South Dakota does not have a grass roots pro choice effort.
Boy are they in for a rude awakening. SD Healthy Families is not a front group for Planned Parenthood (as they claimed) and all of the canvassers were average South Dakotans who lived here who volunteered because they were fed up. We know enough people who are involved in the grass roots effort or volunteered to get signatures. But let them continue thinking that.
They tried to claim there is an ongoing investigation into "petition fraud" because they said out of state canvassers were used. All were in state volunteers and as far as we know there is no investigation since the state has verified the signatures and approved the petition.

South Dakota was purposely targeted as an "easy state" to push this through a state legislature. David Belite the moderator admitted they could have never gotten this past legislators in another state. We were "easy pickins" for the national anti-choice agenda. Even by their own admission.

They have given up on trying to convince people of the merits of the ban. Their strategy is to "play the numbers game" and instead of trying to convince the people of South Dakota to keep the ban they will instead just try to make sure all of the anti-choice religious fanatics in the state get out and vote.

They were really angry that someone broke the conference call information to the blogs. Nasty angry. They went on to make a bunch of false accusations. They claimed that bloggers were telling people to call in and disrupt, crowd, crash, or "tell lies" in the conference call. We saw two bloggers who posted the information of the conference call and neither one suggested anyone do anything of the sort. Their outright lies were very out of line. But two things happened last minute that appeared to be due to the posting of the call. Alan & Leslee Unruh "had something come up last minute" and backed out of the call. They claim they will be putting the entire thing up on their website for the public to hear. Once we find out if they ever do this we will pass that on. The call shows that this is all about a religious crusade and the kind of misinformation they try to pass off on the faithful.

They will be running some sort of radio show.
Janet Folger will be coming to do some daily radio show pimping the ban. They did not state what radio station. If anyone has information please pass it on.

There was another real gem of misinformation they tried to pass off.
They tried to say that Planned Parenthood did not want the ban to go to court because supposedly Planned Parenthood thought they could not win. We know direct from someone who was at the first grassroots strategy meeting that this is not correct. Planned Parenthood representatives wanted to take it straight to court and were confident about doing so. It was the women of South Dakota who were the grass roots people off the streets that said no. They wanted to take it to a vote first.

To congeal this entire hour and a half phone call into what is going on:
The ban supporters are largely out of state activists, as are the protestors.
They want to bring more out of state protesters to South Dakota.
They don't have enough money and they are in a full on panic.
They have not bought media yet and are still completing their first commercial.

Pro Lifers To SD Women - We Want You To Die Of Cancer

Seriously.

Plain(s)Feminist posted an interesting bit she found from a Pro Life site. They are touting a woman to opted to not undergo cancer treatment to give birth to her ninth child. Now that woman is dying of the cancer she didn't treat.

"Mother of Nine Refuses Cancer Treatment to Save Her Unborn Child’s Life
"No situation, no matter how difficult, justifies taking the life of the baby" in the womb

By Gudrun Schultz

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, July 31, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A woman who refused chemotherapy treatment to save the life of her ninth child is now dying of terminal cancer, reported the Catholic News Agency Friday.
"

So don't believe the dishonest garbage these people are trying to pass off that if you have cancer its no big deal and you would never need an abortion to save your life. They know its untrue and that you could die of cancer just like the woman in the article from a pro-life group.
They know - they don't care and they will lie about it to try to get their way.

Abortion Ban Challenged On Religious Grounds With The Supreme Court

RCRC Challenges Federal Abortion Ban on Religious Grounds

Washington, DC
September 21, 2006

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) today filed an amici curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Carhart, challenging the first-ever federal abortion ban on religious grounds and urging the Court to strike it down.

“The Court’s decision in this case will have enormous consequences for every woman in this country, and for the men and children who love and depend on them,” said Reverend Carlton W. Veazey, President and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Although opponents of legal abortion claim the law before the Court would ban only one procedure that they call “partial-birth abortion,” the law actually would ban several procedures used early in pregnancy. RCRC informs the Court that many religions oppose such undue restrictions on legal abortion because of their belief that a woman’s health must be protected.

“This case will determine if the law will continue to protect the ability of women to choose the safest abortion procedure in cases where their health is at stake or when their baby has such severe problems that it will die shortly after birth,” Reverend Veazey said.

Fifteen other religious and religiously affiliated organizations, seven Episcopal bishops, other religious leaders and scholars, and the presidents of Andover Newton Theological School, the Pacific School of Religion, and Union Theological Seminary have joined the brief. It says:

“Because protecting the health of women is a core expression of the religious values of amici, amici agree that all women whose health is at risk should be free to seek the safest medical treatment, without governmental coercion or constraint, in making the difficult decision whether to terminate a pregnancy.”

Gonzales v. Carhart will review the constitutionality of the “Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003,” which was passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush just three years after the Supreme Court struck down a similar Nebraska ban (in Stenberg v. Carhart) as unconstitutional. The Bush Administration brought the current case to the Court after federal appeals courts in New York, Nebraska, and California declared the ban unconstitutional.

RCRC and the other signatories to the brief urge the Court to recognize “the abundance of religious voices speaking out against the failure of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (the “Act”) to protect women’s health.” The brief asks the court to “not allow Congress to force a moral consensus where there is none, but rather to let the individual women who face the agonizing decision of whether to terminate a pregnancy or risk their own health do so legally, in consultation and accordance with their own conscience and faith.”

Other groups submitting the brief are the American Jewish Committee, Americans for Religious Liberty, the Anti-Defamation League, Disciples for Choice, Disciples Justice Action Network, Episcopal Women’s Caucus, Hadassah-the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ, Methodist Federation for Social Action, National Council of Jewish Women, The Rabbinical Assembly, Union for Reform Judaism, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and Women of Reform Judaism.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, founded in 1973 by clergy and laypersons, is the national coalition of religious and religiously affiliated organizations with official positions in support of reproductive choice.

How To Get Out The Vote

Elections have always been plagued by low voter turn out. The religious right know this and have used voter apathy to their advantage to get people into office who have done so much damage.

So how can you fight back against the extremists trying to force their will and bad ideas upon all of us? Vote, and get others to do the same.

Mid term elections generally generate little interest but South Dakota has some pretty crazy items on the ballot this year. This is the reason to get people to the polls in November. Many people do not realize what is on the ballot and if they knew the details they would be motivated to go vote.

How to get out the vote:

Sponsor a voter happy hour. Contact your friends and invite them to a post vote happy hour and your buying the first drink. Set a time after the polls close and meet at your favorite bar or coffee house. They prove or attest that they went out and voted, you provide the free drinks.

Start a buddy system. Find a friend that lives nearby and go vote together. Just like going to the gym, having someone with you makes you more motivated to follow through. You also have someone to talk to if you get stuck standing in line.

Makes sure every adult in your house is registered and goes to the polls on election day.

If your a boss or business owner give all of your employers an extra hour off with pay on election day so they can go vote without being rushed.

The Anti Choice Hail Mary Pass

The anti choice religious fanatics got some bad news. They found out that across South Dakota the public does not support this bill and it is likely to be voted down.

Since they have been unable to sway the public at large into buying the same thing they have been unsuccessfully trying to sell them since the 1980's they have taken a last ditch effort to find enough votes for their ban.

Since they can't get the citzens of South Dakota to support their ban they are falling back on riling up the fundamentalist religious churches in the hopes that they will deliver enough votes for them. So since they know the public does not support the ban they want to instead distort the will of the people of the state by getting one extreme faction of the state to hopefully outweigh the number of average voters. They don't care that the majority of the state does not want the ban, they just want their way. Just remember they want all of you to foot the bill for their chance to challenge the Supreme Court.

Its A Conspiracy And Everyone Is Involved

The back alley abortion supporters are in rare form this week. In their paranoia they have decided that everyone is rallying together and out to get them. Why yes in a way your right.

People all over South Dakota are now coming together to fight this no exceptions ban. People and groups that didn't before exist, that didn't before have relationships to each other are now rallying together to stop this dangerous law. What they mistake for small conspiracy is widespread cooperation. The ban woke up average South Dakotans and brought them to action and they are all working together. The broad based bipartisan groundswell is scaring the pants off of the extremists.

As the election day comes closer more average people are feeling the urgency to act and speak out, people are finding a voice and as the numbers who speak out grows more find the courage to join them and speak out too. They have found that no, they are not alone in their disgust for this ban. Instead they are surrounded by people everywhere they go who think its a very bad law.

A Carefully Crafted Deception

A group of people are planning a protest over a new stunt by the anti choice factions in South Dakota. The event is attempting to showcase a woman who survived an extremely late term abortion at 7 1/2 months gestation. They are attempting to equate a very controversial and rare incident (that is already illegal in SD) with very early term pregnancy termination and the abortion ban in South Dakota.

We have yet to meet a single person who supports choice who supports late term abortion post viablility unless there are severe fetal abnormalities. This brings up the larger question of why someone was asking for an abortion that late?

But the anti choice activists are attempting to paint the entire ban and all of the issues with a broad brush. Sorry but the woman who has a life threatening medical condition and needs to terminate a pregnancy in the first few weeks is a totally different case that the one they are presenting. As are all of the abortions performed in South Dakota.

The anti choice activists are simply trying to fire up their religious base with wild claims and hope nobody will ask questions. The distortions and lies are what has brought many to their feet in Rapid City who will be going out to protest this distortion stunt. They are protesting the distortion of the debate, the blatant dishonesty of the anti choice activists. Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com and resident loon Bob Ellis are claiming that this public distortion is something those who stand for womens rights in South Dakota want to make go away. No, they want you to speak the truth and stop the lies and distortions.

It is very telling when the people supporting this ban can't even debate it on its merits to win over public support but must resort to outright falsehoods to attempt to sway people.

Credit to Robbinsdale Radical for the original story.
If you wish to join the protest, details are in his post.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

More Inconvenient Facts To Discredit The Anti Choice Fanatics

Plain(s)Feminist Blog has two very good articles dispelling the nonsense voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com is spreading around trying to mislead the public about needed health exceptions for abortion. Did we mention the ban HAS NONE?

This recent post.
and
This one.

Both detail the facts of why the lack of health exceptions is not only dangerous but deadly to the women caught in the middle. The second post has a very detailed outline from Dr. Bell's meeting yesterday.

Ban Abortion Because Women Are Liars

This is the new low in logic from the anti-choice activists from voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com.

Now they are claiming that no exceptions for rape, incest, health or possible death (unless your near death) has no exceptions because they think ALL WOMEN ARE LIARS.

Their new logic is that women will just lie and can't be trusted therefore all abortions should be banned for all women no matter the situation. We have seen this logic before from anti choice activists who have called women "abortion minded liars".

Here's the new comment:
"What the report failed to point out is that if HB1215 included those so-called exceptions, the legislation would not have changed the current situation of abortion on demand. One could get an abortion simply by claiming rape."

Thanks to Clean Cut Kid for the scoop.

The people making these horrible hate filled statements about all women are the ones who want to make decisions about your health or your life. They would rather see you die or damage your health, just in case your lying.

Health And Death - No Exceptions

Yet again, voteyesforbackalleyabortions.com is trying and failing to discredit the facts surrounding the abortion ban.

They tried to claim that there were exceptions in the ban (there are none) by lying about the use and availability of emergency contraception. Emergency contraception is not an abortion, does not provide an exception and has limited use to the first 72 hours.

They tried unsuccessfully to claim that rape is rare so its not an issue. South Dakota is the 12th Highest in rape in the entire country. They then tried to claim that rape does not result in pregnancy (providing no documentation). Then they tried to claim that too few rapes were the cause of abortion in South Dakota for anyone to care. They didn't provide any proof or statistics of that claim either. But they clearly have no problem forcing women to carry a pregnancy due to rape or incest. Even if it was a 13 year old girl.

This weeks unsubstantiated claims are that there are no health reasons a doctor would ever suggest an abortion. Again, they are wrong and hoping to distract, distort and just plain make the facts go away.

Here are some facts, from medical sources:

HEART DISEASE
"For women with some types of heart disease, pregnancy is inadvisable because it so increases their risk of death. Primary pulmonary hypertension and Eisenmenger's syndrome are examples. If women who have one of these disorders become pregnant, doctors advise them to terminate the pregnancy as early as possible."

"Aortic stenosis, a narrowing or stiffening of the aortic valve, creates resistance to blood flow out of the left ventricle. The result is a potential for backup on the left side of your heart. It can be acquired due to rheumatic fever, but it may also be congenital."
"
If your heart condition worsens early in your pregnancy, your care provider may suggest that you terminate your pregnancy to ensure your safety."

Hyperemesis Gravidarum
(Severe Morning Sickness, Persistent Vomiting of Pregnancy, HG)
"In extreme cases, your doctor may discuss the option of terminating the pregnancy if a specific type of eye problem called hemorrhagic retinitis occurs."

Cancer
"Because cancer tends to be life threatening and because delays in treatment may reduce the likelihood of successful treatment, cancer is usually treated the same way whether women are pregnant or not. Some of the usual treatments (surgery, chemotherapy drugs, and radiation therapy) may harm the fetus. Thus, some women may consider abortion. However, treatments can sometimes be timed so that risk to the fetus is reduced."

Drug Complications
Certain drugs can cause severe enough birth defects that they could kill the fetus or newborn. Drugs with high instances of life threatening birth defects that also may not be stopped during pregnancy due to a patients condition include:
*certain anticonvulsants
*ace inhibitors
*lythium
There are situations where a doctor may determine that aborting the fetus is the best option.

There are clearly many cases (these are just skimming the surface) of where a doctor may decide that terminating a pregnancy is the best option. Tying doctors hands with an abortion ban removes all options for all women no matter what the individual situation. Who are you going to let make this decision? Doctors and patients or paranoid religious fanatics who clearly hate women? Who would YOU take your medical advice from?

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Abortion Ban Supporters Running Scared

James Dobson and focus on the family sent out a rather desperate email begging for money and help to keep their no exceptions abortion ban. They are pushing churches to deliver the votes for them. If this is supposedly a public law of the people of South Dakota why is an out of state group, and an out of state senator pimping for it?

The ban activists are running scared. They went underground, removing their public support and allegiance with the ban groups. This is the second pleading email in a week, both coming from out of state very far right religious fanatics. Dobson and Falwell. Where is the supposed support from regular citzens of South Dakota?

Don't let South Dakota be the lab experiment for the far right. Vote NO on 6.
BTW, Mr. Dobson. Were "pro-family" and don't think forcing our daughters to die, be injured or forced to carry a rapists baby is good public policy.

The text of the email:
"Help Save South Dakota's Abortion Ban
Voters in the Mt. Rushmore State will pass judgment on law protecting the preborn. A top pro-life member of the U.S. Senate says South Dakota's historic abortion ban is in danger of being nullified this fall when voters go to the polls.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is calling on all pro-family Americans to direct their attention to an initiative on South Dakota's November ballot seeking repeal of the state's abortion ban legislation — a measure he called "the best move yet to stop the horror of abortion." "I think a lot of people would look at this and say, 'If we can beat it in South Dakota, we can beat it anywhere,' " Brownback said. "On our side, I think if it's something that's supported by a vote of the people, that this will really strengthen the pro-life movement across
the country."

In February, the South Dakota Legislature passed the comprehensive ban, which makes it a criminal act to aid a woman in obtaining an abortion, unless her life is at stake."

Know Where Your Money Goes: Kelo AM Sponsors

Today's Know where your money goes is thanks to the hard work over at Clean Cut Kid.

Belfrage has been busy spreading the hard line propaganda of the wacky right on Kelo AM and on their associated blog. If you don't want to support the far right public airwaves propaganda machine you can tell these sponsors how you feel about it. Your dollars spent at these businesses goes to supporting Belfrages hate machine. Tell these businesses you won't do business with them until the remove their sponsorship of Belfrage. Your dollar counts, use it to vote your values.

Nordstroms Auto
Phone: 605.594.3910
Toll-free Fax: 888.818.PART (7278)
E-mail: parts@nordstromsauto.com
25513 480th Avenue
Garretson, South Dakota 57030

PC Doctor, Inc.
3604 S Westport Ave
Sioux Falls, SD 57106
Phone: 605-331-0040
Fax: 605-361-8776
http://www.pcdoctor-sd.com/

Landscape Garden Center
PO Box 1669
Sioux Falls, SD 57101
P: 605.338.0706
F: 605.338.2040
http://www.landscapegardencenters.com/AboutUs/ContactUs/

Village Travel Inc
1709 6th St, Brookings, SD
(605) 692-6611

Monday, September 18, 2006

Know Where Your Money Goes: Qualified Presort

If your giving business to Qualified Presort in Sioux Falls, your giving money to the abortion ban.

Owner Dwight Beukelman sat (or may still) on the Alpha Center and Abstinence Clearinghouse board of directors and donated money to these groups. This information was publicly available on their websites until recently. It is also IRS record.

Beukelman is also a key member of voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com, google cache pages are a great way to show the information someone tries to sweep under the rug. Recently voteyesforbackalleyabortions.com removed their directors list. What are they trying to hide?
Beukelman is a key member in the group trying to ban abortion in South Dakota.

This is a very big deal for those doing election mailings. Your dollars may not only end up funding what your working against but you may be giving your opponents an advanced preview of your mailing if you use this service to send them out.

The long standing involvement and deep involvement with these fanatic groups is worth mentioning. Know where your dollars go.

Abortion Ban Activists Go Underground

As the abortion ban comes close to a public vote suddenly ALL of the anti-choice groups involved in the ban have removed the names of their supporters or access to such information.

Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com has removed all mention of who is involved or supports this group. As of the last two weeks that information and the initial press release announcing the group and who supported it was on the site. This information has recently been taken down. So why have they all now gone underground?

Abstinence Clearinghouse has also removed from public access any information about who is on their board of directors, donators or members. The board of directors was publicly available up until the last month also.

Alpha Center still has their board members publicly listed but a number of people no longer appear on the board of directors list including Dwight Beukelman and John Stratman. Their leaving the board may have something to do with the ongoing IRS investigation, or it could just be that they didn't want to take the backlash of being involved with the group. This tax return also shows who was on the board.

So WHY right before a public vote on their ban are the key supporters no longer publicly supporting the ban or its groups?

50 Days To Go - The Advertising Starts

The first No on 6 TV ad was spotted today. The opinion was that it looked good. Good tone to the ad, pointing out the flaws of the bill clearly and concisely.

The other side is going to have a hard time countering this. The baby pictures, fetus pictures and "testimony" tactics that they have been trying are going to have a hard time getting the undecided to see it as anything other than more of the same tactics the anti-choice movement has been using for years. On the upside these tactics clearly cement that those support the bill are the likes of Operation Rescue style fringe fanatics and not normal citzens.

The group wanting to repeal video lottery has been running TV ads for weeks, the same ad. It has officially worn out its welcome already.

It will be interesting to see what floods the airwaves in the next few weeks.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Boycott Businesses Involved In Regressive Policies

There are many businesses directly or semi-directly involved with various fundamentalist groups, groups practicing discrimination or groups actively trying to take away your rights. As with many groups like Buy Blue those who want to know where their dollars go can be informed. We don't want to give our money to businesses that support groups we oppose or that directly discriminate and you probably don't want to either.

Please review the information on this that we will be providing over the next week and vote with your dollar. Your dollar is the lifeblood of a business. Tell these businesses you don't approve of their support for fanatical discriminatory groups and urge them to sever those relationships or you will remove your patronage from their business. Sometimes just one person saying something is enough for a business to do something about it. Many times businesses just say ok to someone putting out a newspaper rack or setting up a table outside a store but are oblivious to what the people are actually promoting. One woman was able to get Walmart to kick out a group simply by complaining to the manager. Walmart didn't know the group was telling kids to refuse vaccines, that they should use violence against non believers and promoting violence against homosexuals. Once Walmart was aware of what the group's agenda was the immediately removed them. One person can make a difference.

Today we will be showing you what businesses in South Dakota allow Looney Tooney Bob Ellis and the Dakota Voice to set up newspaper racks in their stores. This "paper" we use the term loosely is a propaganda outlet of groups and people who wish to discriminate against people for their sexual orientation, religious beliefs and are directly involved in voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com.

Here's the entire list with addresses of the businesses promoting this kind of hate in South Dakota.

Borders Books & Music - Rapid City
Caf� Latte - Rapid City
Dunn Brothers Coffee - Rapid City
Khoury's Mediterranean Cuisine - Rapid City
Big D Stores
Belle Fourche
Deadwood
Custer
Piedmont
Rapid City
Bills Super Value - Lemmon
Pit Stop - Lemmon

Pro Life Movement Wants Lebensborn For The US

This comment has been expressed many times by people in the "pro-life" movement.

"If there were no abortions, we'd have more people for our workforce, consequently the demand wouldn't be there for immigrants who are illegal."
Harry R. Mansheim
Brookings

There have been many other comments made by local anti-choice activists and groups claiming that there are not enough "white babies" to go around. The logic that we should ban abortion in order to increase the stockpile of desireable babies as if they were a commodity or that we need to produce more workers smacks of nazi lebensborns and is dehumanizing to all involved.

The far right's campaign against homosexuals and turning babies into a commodity fits the nazi programs to a T.

"The Nazi Breeding Camps were a series of camps set up in Nazi Germany during the period that Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi Party) were in power between 1933 - 1945. The government set up camps were 1,000 white German women and 100 white German men were brought for human breeding. "Homosexuals were subjected to medical experimentation mainly to "force" them to become heterosexual. This was consistent with Nazi preoccupation with breeding children for the Fatherland. Some homosexuals were forced engage in sex with female prostitutes. A few were surgically castrated. Others received a surgical implant designed to increase their testosterone level."

If you do some looking there are at least 126,000 children in the US looking for homes. There appears to be plenty of children available to adopt. The theory that there are not enough children for people to adopt is clearly untrue.

What they are after also goes back to the days before Roe v. Wade when women, usually white, were forced to give up their babies for adoption. Turning babies into a commodity.

Both of these notions, of "breeding for the fatherland" and turning babies desired by religious conservatives into a commodity match the Lebensborn concept.

"The purpose of the program was to provide incentives to encourage Germans, especially SS members, to have more children."

"On September 13, 1936, Himmler wrote the following to members of SS [1]:

The organization "Lebensborn e.V." serves the SS leaders in the selection and adoption of qualified children. The organization "Lebensborn e.V." is under my personal direction, is part of the race and settlement central bureau of the SS, and has the following obligations:

(1) aid for racially and biologically-hereditarily valuable families
(2) the accommodation of racially and biologically-hereditarily valuable mothers in appropriate homes, etc.
(3) care of the children of such families
(4) care of the mothers
It is the honorable duty of all leaders of the central bureau to become members of the organization "Lebensborn e.V.". The application for admission must be filed prior to 23/9/1936."

Its very clear that the anti-choice far right fundamentalists are all about forced and organized breeding.

This quote from members of voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com wrote this:
"If you don’t believe me, look around you. Who are the people continuing to have large families? Who are the people continuing to bring up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord? How many children are being brought up by conservative families, that stay together, as opposed to liberal “families”? Between my wife and I and our three siblings, who are all strong conservatives (and home-schoolers) there are 24 children. I would challenge anyone on the left to come up with four families that they know who have a combined 24 children. The shear volume of adults being created in God-fearing homes will eventually overwhelm the number of children that are coming from so called “progressive” homes.

One day our children will be the voters and leaders of this country and the left will go back to what it was in the past; a small freakish minority with (thankfully) little clout. The baby boomers have, sadly, left behind a society that has lost its moral compass and failed its parents. Our children will not fail theirs."


Pro Life Racism

"If there were no abortions, we'd have more people for our workforce, consequently the demand wouldn't be there for immigrants who are illegal."
Harry R. Mansheim
Brookings

Friday, September 15, 2006

Get Out And Vote!

Its that time. Make sure your registered to vote, if you moved get it updated now. If you are not registered to vote DO IT NOW. 2006 General deadline is October 23.

ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 7th

You can pull down the form off the state web page and mail it to your county auditor.
You can also register in person at one of the following locations:
*County auditor's office
*City finance office
*Driver's license station
*Public assistance agencies providing food stamps, TANF or WIC
*Department of Human Services offices which provide assistance to the disabled
*Military recruitment offices
*Mail-in registration with cards from the county auditor's office or from one of the links above


The Reality of HB 1215: Part 1

Gerri Santoro died in a seedy hotel room in 1964. Abortion was illegal and she feared her estranged husband would kill her. Gerri's husband was horribly violent and physically abused her. She finally got the courage to leave with her children and fled to her mother's farm.

Gerri became involved with a man she met and became pregnant. When she found out that her husband was coming to see her and the kids she panicked that he would see her obvious pregnancy and kill her. Her boyfriend borrowed a medical textbook and some surgical instruments and attempted to help her terminate the pregnancy in a hotel room in Norwich CT.

When the operation went awry the boyfriend fled and Gerri bled to death face down on the floor of a cheap hotel room. The image from yesterday (probably not safe for work).

"

Though Santoro's desperate act seems unimaginable 28 years after Roe vs. Wade, the climate toward abortion in the 1950s and 1960s drove other women to similar extremes, said Susan Porter Benson, associate professor of women's history at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

"The fact is that the more anti-abortion laws were enforced, the more women were forced to use unsafe back-alley providers ... and many, many women died from illegal back-alley abortions," Porter Benson said. "(And) that would have been just about the worst time because there was a real crackdown after World War II. They had hospital committees to determine whether you could have an abortion in a hospital and they would say things like you could have one if you agreed to surgical sterilization.

"All these terrorizing kinds of things. It wasn't the illegality of abortion, but the terrorizing enforcement of abortion laws that made women unsafe."

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League contends that between 5,000 and 10,000 women routinely died each year from illegal abortion attempts.

This image was so disturbing to many of us who grew up in a post-Roe world. But we have heard so many horror stories about women dieing just like Gerri or dying a slow death from septicemia. Many of these stories came directly from women who witnessed someone who died from an illegal or self inflicted abortion.

Outlawing abortion didn't stop it the last time and it will not stop it this time either.

SD Anti-choice Activists Begging For Out Of State Money

Voteyesforbackalleyabortions.com is now begging for out of state money. Jerry Fallwell is begging for money on behalf of Allen Unruh and Voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com. They are also telling people that Planned Parenthood is running tons of ads already in South Dakota. Hmm. We have yet to see a single ad.

Also take notice that they are now running voteyesforbackalleyabortion.com out of Unruh's chiropractic clinic in Sioux Falls. The provided location address, phone and email is the clinics.

Here's the email begging for money:
From: "Dr. Jerry Falwell"
To:
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2006 21:01:49 -0400
Subject: South Dakota Pro-Lifers Face Off Against Planned Parenthood

FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL

Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and

The Liberty Alliance http://www.moralmajority.com

From: Jerry Falwell

Date: September 14, 2006

South Dakota Pro-Lifers Face Off Against Planned Parenthood

The pro-life movement in South Dakota needs your help. In a moment, I’ll tell you how you can help, but first, please allow me to explain the situation in the state.

Abortion-rights advocates have gotten a measure on the November ballot that, if passed, would repeal the state law (HB 1215) forbidding all abortions, except those that would save the life of a mother. The ban, which hasn’t yet taken effect, will be activated if it passes the ballot initiative (even though it would likely would be challenged in the courts). The law states that individuals performing abortions would be fined $5,000 and be jailed for five years.

Here’s the key problem: Planned Parenthood is now pouring money into the state, in hopes of killing this legislation without having to go to court.

************SPONSORED LINK************

SUPER CONFERENCE 2006 - OCTOBER 1-4
Speakers: Dr. Jerry Falwell, Dr. Ergun Caner,
Dr. David Jeremiah, Dr. Johnny Hunt and more
Visit
www.superconference.us

************SPONSORED LINK************

Dr. Allen Unruh, of the South Dakota pro-life organization Vote Yes for Life (www.voteyesforlife.com), tells me that Planned Parenthood panicked after HB 1215 was passed in both state houses and Gov. Mike Rounds signed it into law. The state house voted 50 to 18 in favor of the bill, while the state senate passed it 23 to 12.

Dr. Unruh says the organization is mounting an $8 million media blitz over the next two months. He tells me this is a major propaganda campaign to demonize and distort the language on the ban on abortion in South Dakota.

Pro-life leaders in the state are now trying to raise funds to counter Planned Parenthood’s campaign to defeat the law. They are now attempting to raise $4 million to offset Planned Parenthood’s campaign to radical political agenda.

That’s where I hope you will step in. I have told Dr. Unruh and his team that I will do my best to deliver thousands of people who will financially help to win this historic battle. We have to raise $4 million dollars — very quickly — in South Dakota to counter the propaganda Planned Parenthood will be putting on the airwaves prior to the November election.

Dr. Unruh and I believe that if there were ever a time when Christians need to invest in a pro-life effort, the time is now and the place is South Dakota. If the state wins this battle, other states could follow South Dakota’s lead in the future, also determining to outlaw abortion.

I am urging my friends across the country to give generously to this vital campaign.

What happens in South Dakota will literally affect the future of America.

Make all checks out to: voteyesforlife.com

Donations may be sent to:

Vote Yes for Life

600 N. Western Ave.

Sioux Falls, SD 57104

Readers interested in learning more about this campaign may visit the website www.voteyesforlife.com/

Readers wishing to volunteer in this campaign may contact Dr. Unruh at the above address or contact him through e-mail (allen@draunruh.com) or by telephone (605-332-1962).