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Voters Reject Abortion Bans in South Dakota, Colorado.

More Good News From Last Night:

In the last few months I wrote about calls to action against two draconian state referendums intended to deprive women of their legally-guaranteed reproductive choices. Many of you responded and we won in both Colorado and South Dakota!

In the newly blue state of Colorado, voters resoundingly rejected by a three to one margin a ballot initiative that would have eliminated a woman's ability to make personal, private decisions about her health care by granting legal rights to a fertilized egg. It could have banned all abortions and been used to block stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, among other reproductive health services. It could even have prevented doctors from providing lifesaving care to a woman if the medical treatment needed could harm a fertilized egg. Amendment 48 was a darling of social conservatives and it got crushed.

Peter Rothberg

November 5, 2008

More Good News From Last Night:

In the last few months I wrote about calls to action against two draconian state referendums intended to deprive women of their legally-guaranteed reproductive choices. Many of you responded and we won in both Colorado and South Dakota!

In the newly blue state of Colorado, voters resoundingly rejected by a three to one margin a ballot initiative that would have eliminated a woman’s ability to make personal, private decisions about her health care by granting legal rights to a fertilized egg. It could have banned all abortions and been used to block stem cell research and in vitro fertilization, among other reproductive health services. It could even have prevented doctors from providing lifesaving care to a woman if the medical treatment needed could harm a fertilized egg. Amendment 48 was a darling of social conservatives and it got crushed.

Meanwhile, in South Dakota, already the country’s most restrictive state regarding reproductive rights, voters rejected, by a fairly narrow margin, what would be an unconstitutional abortion ban. If Measure 11 had passed, it would have been one of the most complete bans in post-Roe US history.

Peter RothbergTwitterPeter Rothberg is the The Nation’s associate publisher.


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