n the middle of America, there's an open battlefront in the abortion wars.
In 2006, the South Dakota Legislature voted to ban abortion with an eye towards overturning the historic U.S. Supreme Court
decision Roe v. Wade.
Grassroots campaigns sprang up from the prairies to the Badlands to the Black Hills to put House Bill 1215 on the 2006
ballot in hopes of overturning the law. Others marched to defend the bill.
Nine months later, after a bitter campaign and raucous street protests, the small state's voters defeated the abortion ban,
56% to 44%.
The story is not over. Efforts are underway to put another abortion ban on the 2008 ballot, this time with the rape and
incest exceptions that were key to the ban's defeat in 2006.
South Dakota, with a population under 1 million, is positioned to be the flashpoint for the next national battle over
abortion rights. What happens in the state that's home to Mount Rushmore could set the nation's course.
In Unplanned Democracy: America's First Vote on Abortion, a South Dakota journalist examines the events that led up to
the 2006 abortion ban, show you who made it happen and chronicle how voters sidetracked a bill intended for the U.S.
Supreme Court. While Lake of Fire examines the abortion issue in a broad and historic context,
Unplanned Democracy focuses on how one state's political machinery dealt with the emotionally charged issue.
To prepare for what's coming next, you need to understand what happened in South Dakota in 2006.
Unplanned Democracy tells that story.
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Unplanned Democracy: America's First Vote on Abortion
A balanced look at what happened, who made it happen and how the story didn't end when the ballots were counted.
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