Former lawmaker, judge to head pro-abortion rights advocacy group
Amendment G organizer has acknowledged perceptions that South Dakota's pro-life, pro-choice struggle has been driven by men
The face of South Dakota abortion rights advocacy leading up to November’s vote to ease the state’s near-total ban on pregnancy termination is changing.
At least that’s the hope of Dakotans for Health, the campaign committee behind proposed Constitutional Amendment G that Tuesday morning announced Watertown attorney and former legislator Nancy Turbak-Berry will head a newly formed organization to support the campaign to legalize abortion in South Dakota to varying degrees based on the stage of pregnancy.
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“South Dakota’s radical anti-abortion law is just plain wrong,” Turbak-Berry said during a news conference in Sioux Falls Friday morning. “It requires a woman who has been raped to give birth. It allows a doctor to be put in jail for helping a pregnant patient. And it strikes fear into the heart of every woman who has ever faced miscarriage, or any of the other many dangerous problems of pregnancy, fear that she will be denied proper care because her OBGYN is afraid to offer it for fear of being criminally charged."
Until now, Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland has been the most visible advocate behind Amendment G, organizing a successful signature drive to force a vote that would override the state’s abortion laws, which allow abortions only when necessary to save the life of a mother. Weiland has also publicly jousted with Republican lawmakers and the group Life Defense Fund, which thus far has unsuccessfully attempted to keep Amendment G off the ballot.
That a man who is unable to become pregnant has headed the pro-abortion rights efforts in South Dakota, however, has been a criticism leveled against Weiland by some pro-choice advocates, which he acknowledged earlier this year while appearing on The Dakota Scout’s weekly Scouting Report podcast.
Turbak-Berry said Friday that abortion rights are a women’s issue.
“It’s about women’s reproductive freedom. We had it. They took it away. We want it back,” she said.
Turbak-Berry, a mother of two boys, has practiced law in Watertown since 1982. She served for four years in the South Dakota State Senate and is a former magistrate of the Unified Judicial System.
Nancy is the perfect person to help with this. She is thoughtful, rational, and deeply caring. And, she gets things done. Thank you!
Noem tells us South Dakota is all about FREEDOM! Freedom is about having a CHOICE! No radical right-wing 'Christians' should have the right to IMPOSE their beliefs on others. Freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. Seems this is also a constitutional violation that few are talking about.