First things first, this is a Reuters story, and their bias is well-known and made very clear in their wording in the story. An excerpt:

MITCHELL, South Dakota (Reuters) – Supporters of a South Dakota abortion ban, passed as a challenge to an established U.S. right to abortion, launched their campaign on Wednesday to uphold the state law in a November referendum.

The ballot issue is expected to make South Dakota a key battleground in a national election-year debate over abortion. Democrats are seeking to recapture the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from President George W. Bush’s Republican party, where abortion opponents are bedrock supporters.

A few things are worth noting. One, Reuters has decided that this vote on whether the voters of South Dakota agree with a law passed by their general assembly is somehow connected to the overarching balance of power in national politics. Very interesting that states politics can effect national politics, especially since these wire services normally only care about national politics and don’t give a flip about what’s happening except on the coasts.

Here’s the other thing – I don’t think the legislature would have made the law if it hadn’t thought the public supported it (after all, a bunch of legislators could lose their jobs if the public didn’t support the law.) So, while this wire service is foaming at the mouth with excitement over how this vote will be a key referendum on the whole Republican party, I certainly hope that they’ll be sadly disappointed. And, why in the world is SD the first state to think about trying their own referendum? The states ran the white flag up the pole when the Supreme Court egregiously overstepped their authority and made judgements based on bad legal arguments. My hope is that more states will try this. Make it a states’ rights issue, which it deserves to be. Yeah, some states will vote for death, but let them – and give me a chance to shape the culture in my own state, Georgia, where, most likely, such a law would stand the vote of the public.