Last year, Bush named two new judges with impeccable conservative credentials, Chief Justice John Roberts and Judge Samuel Alito, and anti-abortion activists believe their appointments could tip the balance in the court and overturn Roe vs. Wade. Hunt believes the odds could grow even more favorable during the remaining years of Bush's presidency. One of the more liberal judges, John Paul Stevens, is already 86, and his retirement or death could give Bush the opportunity to make lasting changes to America's top judicial authority. “You'd have to have your head in the sand if you didn't think that the bill would end up in the Supreme Court,” Hunt says.
First, though, the bill has to go before the voters of South Dakota. Within days of the ban, local activists decided to exploit a state provision that allows for legislation to be put to a referendum following a petition campaign. At first, Planned Parenthood was skeptical; the organization has focused on using America's courts to protect abortion rights, and was unsure about a change of strategy. But the response of ordinary South Dakotans to the ban took organizers of the petition by surprise; within weeks they had gathered more than 40,000 signatures — twice as many as required. The state's abortion ban was to be put to the ballot. Its pro-life movement, while a powerhouse in the state legislature, would now have to answer to the people.
Unruh knows the stakes are high, and she acknowledges that her opponents may have the edge. But that does not deter her. If the ban is defeated, she says, she will march right back to the state legislature in January and start over again. “It will never be over,” she insists.
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