The South Dakota Legislature passed five laws, including one that would impose an immediate ban on abortion after any Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. Others include stricter parental notification requirements, a provision adding an “unborn child” as a distinct victim to the state’s criminal code for charges of murder in the first and second degree, a new informed-consent law requiring physicians to tell women seeking an abortion about the “existing relationship between a pregnant woman and her unborn child,” and that all abortions “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being.”

In Texas, legislators not satisfied with the flawed parental notification bill passed last session, changed the law to requiring parental consent in order to strengthen parental involvement. Arkansas did the same.

Georgia and Oklahoma, in addition to South Dakota, require women to receive state-written information before receiving an abortion. Arkansas, Georgia, and Minnesota require women seeking abortions to be informed that a fetus might be able to feel pain. Indiana gives women an opportunity to view an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion. Kansas requires physicians performing abortions on minors younger than 14 to retain fetal tissue and send it to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Maryland, West Virginia, Florida, Oklahoma, and Arizona all establish the fetus as an independent victim in homicide cases.

The abortion industry is suffering from the numerous legal obstacles being placed in their way, and that’s a good thing.

Kansas AG Sues to Block State-Funded Abortions 
Attorney General Phill Kline has sued Democrat Governor Kathleen Sebelius and two other state officials in a bid to block state-funded abortions and establish under Kansas law that life begins at conception.

The lawsuit, filed on August 18, claims abortion violates Section 1 of the Kansas Constitution, which guarantees all people “equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The Kansas House of Representatives ordered the lawsuit three years ago.

Pro-life citizens hope eventually to challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. “This is an initial effort to get a court to substantiate that, yes, this is a human being at the beginning,” said Elmer Feldkamp, president of Right to Life of Kansas, which drafted the House resolution.

October is LIFE CHAIN MONTH! 
Over 1,000 cities and towns across North America were involved in Life Chain last year. This year, on October 2, we hope you and your hometown will be involved. For just one hour a year, thousands and thousands of pro-lifers stand silently and prayerfully along American thoroughfares holding signs with pro-life messages bearing witness to our cause in view of motorists and passers-by. It takes only about one hour, but it has a major impact. For information about how you can form or join a Life Chain, contact: Please Let Me Live at 530/671-5500 or on the web at NationalLifeChain@otnusa.com or visit http://www.NationalLifeChain.org.