Whalen: Herseth too extreme

By Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, October 05, 2006

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Republican U.S. House candidate Bruce Whalen says Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth revealed her true feelings on abortion rights in a statement she made to pro-choice groups.

The Whalen campaign issued a news release this week that contained quotes from Herseth taken from an August telephone conference call with Planned Parenthood officials and former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle. The conference call was aimed at defeating Referred Law 6, the near-total ban on abortions to be decided Nov. 7 by general-election voters in the state.

The Whalen campaign pointed to excerpts from the conference call, which were posted on a Web site, as proof that Herseth has a more extreme abortion-rights position than she displays publicly in South Dakota. In one comment, Herseth said she was proud to be endorsed by Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights and Reproductive

Freedom Action League and Emily's List - national leaders in defense of abortion rights.

She also said the defeat of Referred Law 6, which was approved by the state Legislature as HB1215 but referred to a public vote, in South Dakota would be a boost to abortion-rights activists and candidates througout the nation.

"We have a very real opportunity to hand a very public, very clear defeat to the anti-choice crowd in the very state that they claim is the most pro-life in the country, and doing so would send shockwaves to red states and will define the way this issue is perceived," Herseth said.

Whalen said that with her comments, Herseth revealed herself to be "pro-abortion" and "pro-Pelosi," referring to Nancy Pelosi of California, Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Whalen criticized Herseth for her conference-call comments and for past votes against bills to make it a federal offense to transport pregnant minors across state lines to avoid abortion laws requiring parental notification. He said that both Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson and Republican Sen. John Thune had cast votes in support of that legislation, which eventually was defeated.

"I believe the majority of South Dakotans support a culture of life and the ability to raise their children to their values," Whalen said.

"I will never vote to take away a parent's right to be directly involved with the decision-making of their minor children, as Ms. Herseth has done."

Herseth responded to the Whalen statement through her spokesman, Russ Levsen. Levsen rejected the assertions that Herseth is out of touch with South Dakotans on

abortion or that her conference-call comments revealed an extreme position on the issue.

"Representative Herseth has consistently said that the South Dakota abortion ban, which lacks exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the pregnant woman, goes too far," Levsen said.

"Bruce Whalen does not believe in rape, incest and health exceptions. Even President Bush and Sen. Thune have publicly supported rape and incest exceptions."

Levsen said Herseth's position on Referred Law 6 is

in line with most South Dakotans' position.

"Public polling shows that South Dakotans oppose the abortion ban, and Whalen's extreme position puts him at odds with a majority of South Dakota voters," Levsen said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com