Ellis: Kansas vote suggests South Dakota’s abortion ban could be on borrowed time

Voters two states south resoundingly want abortion rights preserved, signaling what might lie ahead in South Dakota

Jonathan Ellis

The mood at the Republican Party Convention on June 24 in Watertown was near euphoric. The Supreme Court of the United States had just handed many in attendance the decision of a lifetime: the reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

In an instant, virtually all abortions in South Dakota had become illegal, thanks to a 2005 law the Legislature had passed outlawing the procedure if Roe were ever overturned.

For many of the GOP activists at the convention, abortion had been their defining issue. And at that moment, they had won.

But the victory could prove to be short lived, given recent events.