Abortion Rights Groups Boycott S.D. Tourist Spots

March 31, 2006 — -- Abortion rights groups choose not to visit Mount Rushmore following a call by activists to boycott tourism in all of South Dakota as a protest against the state's recent abortion ban.

Since South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed the March 6 legislation that bans virtually all abortions in the state, the Mount Rushmore Parks Department has been flooded with e-mails about the ban, both pro and con.

"The majority of e-mails have been from people who say that they are not going to visit," said Gerard Baker, superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Park.

A smaller number of people also have been contacting the department to say "they will go out of their way" to visit in support of the ban, Baker said.

"People have a right to express themselves and do whatever they want," said Baker. "That's what this country is all about."

The boycott idea originated with the Women's Medical Fund of Madison, a Wisconsin-based abortion rights group, which threatened to call a national boycott of the state if the bill passed.

The bill, which passed, will become law on July 1 and is seen as a direct challenge to the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. Under the legislation, abortions would be permitted only in limited circumstances to save the life of the mother. The law does not make an exception for cases of rape and incest.

The boycott is going forward with the support of the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation, said Annie Laurie Gaylor, the Women's Medical Fund director.

"We want to support the women of South Dakota and send a message to other states that there is a peril to their livelihood if they take similar steps," she said.

Meanwhile, national abortion rights activists wait to see whether Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion clinic in South Dakota, will appeal the legislation.