Beyond Roe vs Wade: let the debate begin

Writing on spiked, Nancy McDermott, a pro-choice South Dakotan, investigates her home state’s decision to prohibit abortion.

‘Don’t get me wrong, I have always been proud to be from South Dakota. Although profoundly socially conservative, it has, at least up until recently, been a state that defied expectations. Most people consider themselves Republican, but they elected two of the most prominent Democrats of the past 50 years: George McGovern, who ran for president against Richard Nixon in 1972, and more recently, Tom Daschle, the leader of the Democratic Party in the senate. Its people have always had a refreshing ‘live and let live’ attitude that assumes the person next door does not need to be told what to do or how to do it. So how then did it suddenly become the home of anti-abortion extremism? Many South Dakotans are wondering the same thing…’

Nancy McDermott is a writer based in New York City.

Read full article: Beyond Roe vs Wade: let the debate begin, spiked, 20 April 2006