Triple Setback For Conservatives, But Some Defeats On Gay Marriage
From The AP
In a triple setback for conservatives, South Dakotans rejected a law that would have banned virtually all abortions, Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage and Missouri approved a measure backing stem cell research.Nationwide, a total of 205 measures were on the ballots in 37 states Tuesday, but none had riveted political activists across the country like the South Dakota measure. Passed overwhelmingly by the legislature earlier this year, it would have been the toughest abortion law in the nation, allowing the procedure only to save a pregnant woman's life.
Lawmakers had hoped the ban would be challenged in court, provoking litigation that might eventually lead to a
U.S. Supreme Court reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.Jan Nicolay, a leader of the state's anti-ban campaign, said voters viewed the measure—which lost by a 55-45 margin—as too intrusive.
"We believe South Dakotans can make these decisions themselves," she said. "They don't have to have somebody telling them what that decision needs to be."
Arizona broke a strong national trend by refusing to change its constitution to define marriage as a one-man, one-woman institution. The measure also would have forbid civil unions and domestic partnerships.
Bill McCartney
