Some believe that life begins at the moment of conception and that tampering in any way with even a minute-old, fertilized egg is murder and should be punished as such.

Others believe that life begins when a fetus is delivered and that terminating a pregnancy for any reason at any stage before that is the right of the woman who is carrying it. Most of us, though, reject these two extremes and believe instead that a commonsense balance, even on this most emotionally charged of all public issues, can be achieved.

For generations, America had achieved that commonsense balance between the rights of the living woman and the unborn fetus.  That balance was enshrined in our Constitution by Roe v. Wade, the historic Supreme Court decision giving women the right to decide whether to carry to term during the earlier stages of pregnancy but states the right to limit that choice during later stages.

VIEWPOINT: South Dakota GOP should offer voters a vision for the state’s future