US
President George W. Bush signalled his opposition to a
South Dakota abortion ban that forbids the procedure
even in cases of rape or incest, saying he favors such
exceptions.
But Bush declined to
predict the outcome of any legal challenges to the
legislation, which would make it illegal to terminate a
pregnancy except in rare cases when it may be necessary
to save the life of the mother.
"That, of course, is
a state law, but my position has always been three
exceptions: Rape, incest, and the life of the
mother," the US president told ABC news in an
interview.
Asked whether he would
include "health" of the mother, Bush replied:
"I said life of the mother, and health is a very
vague term, but my position has been clear on that ever
since I started running for office."
The bill, which recently
gained final approval from South Dakota's House of
Representatives, directly contradicts the precedent set
in 1973 when the US Supreme Court ruled that bans on
abortion violate a woman's constitutional right to
privacy.
The bill grants no
allowances for women who have been raped or are victims
of incest. Doctors who perform abortion would be charged
with a crime. It also prohibits the sale of emergency
contraception and asserts that life begins at
fertilization.
The governor of South
Dakota has indicated he is likely to sign the bill.
A leading pro-choice
advocacy group has already vowed to challenge the ban in
federal court. But that seems to be exactly what many
promoters of the legislation seek.
Advocates of the ban do
not deny they aim much higher than South Dakota, a rural
and socially conservative state, which even today has
only one abortion clinic.
Instead, they are hoping
the bill will offer a full frontal assault on legal
abortions now that the balance of power in the Supreme
Court appears to have shifted with the confirmation of
conservative jurists John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both
of whom are seen as pro-life.
