The election of Republican supermajorities to the South Dakota Legislature, including anti-abortion crusaders Jenna Haggar and Pastor Steve Hickey, gives reasonable cause for expecting another abortion ban to crop up in the 2011 session. However, another leader in the abortion fight signals that may not happen.
In 2006, Elizabeth Kraus, then Republican state representative from Rapid City, helped pass HB 1215, the abortion ban that voters overturned at the polls. Now Kraus is headed back to Pierre as a senator. But thankfully, she says she has bigger things on her mind: jobs, the economy, and the state budget. Kraus is this holding true to statements she made on the campaign trail back in May, when she said she would not propose a new anti-abortion bill.
South Dakota already makes it hard for women to exercise their personal medical choices. So it is only small comfort that one legislator sounds disinclined to make it even harder. But we can take some comfort in hearing at least one sensible politician willing to focus on practical fiscal matters rather than refighting the culture war in Pierre.