South Dakota Showdown

South Dakota Showdown

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

I’ve blogged in the past about efforts in South Dakota to impose draconian restrictions on women’s reproductive rights. Falling short of their ultimate goal of overriding Roe v. Wade, the state’s anti-abortionists gained a major victory last Friday when the state attorney general told doctors in South Dakota that they are now legally required to tell women “that the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.”

Women also would have to be told they have a right to continue a pregnancy and that abortion may cause them psychological harm, including thoughts of suicide. “So basically,” as Jessica Valenti blogged at Feministing, “they have to provide patients with false information.”

Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota is fighting back against this law, the only one of its kind in the US, which forces doctors to give ideologically charged, nonscientific and inaccurate messages to their patients. “We remain optimistic that, in time, the court will find that the law is unconstitutional,” says PPMNS President and CEO Sarah Stoesz.

To find out how to get involved and counter the anti-choice agenda in South Dakota, check out PPMNS’s action page.

Support independent journalism that does not fall in line

Even before February 28, the reasons for Donald Trump’s imploding approval rating were abundantly clear: untrammeled corruption and personal enrichment to the tune of billions of dollars during an affordability crisis, a foreign policy guided only by his own derelict sense of morality, and the deployment of a murderous campaign of occupation, detention, and deportation on American streets. 

Now an undeclared, unauthorized, unpopular, and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran has spread like wildfire through the region and into Europe. A new “forever war”—with an ever-increasing likelihood of American troops on the ground—may very well be upon us.  

As we’ve seen over and over, this administration uses lies, misdirection, and attempts to flood the zone to justify its abuses of power at home and abroad. Just as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth offer erratic and contradictory rationales for the attacks on Iran, the administration is also spreading the lie that the upcoming midterm elections are under threat from noncitizens on voter rolls. When these lies go unchecked, they become the basis for further authoritarian encroachment and war. 

In these dark times, independent journalism is uniquely able to uncover the falsehoods that threaten our republic—and civilians around the world—and shine a bright light on the truth. 

The Nation’s experienced team of writers, editors, and fact-checkers understands the scale of what we’re up against and the urgency with which we have to act. That’s why we’re publishing critical reporting and analysis of the war on Iran, ICE violence at home, new forms of voter suppression emerging in the courts, and much more. 

But this journalism is possible only with your support.

This March, The Nation needs to raise $50,000 to ensure that we have the resources for reporting and analysis that sets the record straight and empowers people of conscience to organize. Will you donate today?

Ad Policy
x