Issues that won't go away.

There are many social issues in this country which will never go away. Hard hitting issues such as racism, income gap, sexism, etc will be with us forever. Even issues that seem trivial to many, but others have unyielding passion for are not leaving our social consciousness soon, such as the Confederate flag.

South Dakota has banned abortion and only providing one exception in the case of a woman's health is in jeopardy. Rape and incest do not count as a good enough reason to perform the surgery.

I'm adopted so my stance on abortion has always been skewed. I'm forever grateful to my birth mother for not aborting me so it's difficult to look at this issue without emotion. I'm also grateful to my sister's birth mother as well. I've never gotten anyone pregnant, so I've luckily skirted the issue. I do empathize with the people who've made the difficult decision to either raise the child or abort them. I can't imagine how hard that must be.

I don't know really how I feel about abortion. I kind of wish it didn't exist really. I do know it's major surgery and an ugly procedure. I am firmly against partial birth abortions as I don't see the point unless the woman's life is in danger, but I may change my mind on it.

Most people I know are pro-choice, as am I, but some seem to be so they can be politically correct. This mode of thinking is dangerous. You should never fall by a social trend for fear of retribution or being lumped in with conservative nut jobs. I find these people to be cowards. I myself don't really know much about the science of the procedure and feel ashamed at my lack of knowledge in this area.

People are so passionate about this that they'll vote along abortion lines. Never mind the other important issues such as foreign policy, which is the first thing I look at when voting for a federal official. It also doesn't make sense to me that people only look to the president for either standing up or curbing abortion laws, yet they have no idea what their state senators, govenors, mayors, etc feel about this issue. Maybe this South Dakota law will wake people up and make them realize the real abortion fight is on the state capitol, not necessarily the White House. Maybe I'm giving voters too much credit.

Alec has posted interesting insights about his feelings about this new law. I especially like Alec's thoughts about state rights vs federal, which is a factor that falls by the wayside when you hear debates about abortion.

You can read Alec's opinion here.

"However much I dislike the idea of abortion, you should not criminalize a woman who, in very difficult circumstances, makes that choice." - Tony Blair

South Dakota governor signs abortion ban