South Dakota abortion ban may challenge Roe

South Dakota lawmakers crafted a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade on Friday, passing a bill that bans all abortions — including in cases of rape or incest — except for those in which the procedure is deemed necessary to save a woman's life.

The measure, which Republican Gov. Mike Rounds said he was inclined to sign into law, is certain to face legal challenge. Some abortion opponents say that is precisely the point.

With President Bush's two recent appointments to the Supreme Court, anti-abortion forces want to test whether justices might be willing to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe decision that established a woman's right to abortion.

"I think the stars are aligned," said South Dakota House Speaker Matthew Michels, a Republican. "Simply put, now is the time."

Rounds said his staff will review the bill for technical defects. He noted he vetoed a similar measure two years ago because it would have wiped out all restrictions on abortion while the bill was challenged in court.

Under the measure, scheduled to take effect July 1, doctors could be sentenced to up to five years in prison for performing an abortion.

Planned Parenthood, which operates the only legal abortion clinic in South Dakota, plans to file a lawsuit seeking to block the measure. About 800 abortions a year are performed in South Dakota.

During floor debate in the state Capitol in Pierre, one lawmaker said he had received word of an anonymous pledge of at least $1 million to help the state defend its ban.

Some opponents of the bill said abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, or where the woman's health is threatened.

If a rape victim becomes pregnant and bears a child, the rapist could have the same parental rights as the mother, said Krista Heeren-Graber, executive director of the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault.

Neither of Bush's appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Samuel Alito, discussed during Senate confirmation hearings how he would vote on a challenge to the abortion right. Each, however, said he would respect judicial precedents established by the court.

The bill may be intended as a full-scale attack on Roe, but there is no requirement that justices hear a challenge.

In the early 1990s, the court declined to hear cases involving abortion bans passed in Utah and Louisiana. Instead the court let stand lower-court rulings that declared those laws unconstitutional.

The House approved the bill, 50-18, on Friday, reconciling its measure with one approved by the state Senate, 23-12, earlier in the week.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report