Sep 30
Vote Yes for Life office opens in Rapid City
By Denise Ross
They might not have a lot of money, but as well-known anti-abortion activist Leslee Unruh told the crowd gathered at the new Vote Yes for Life office in Rapid City Monday night, they’ve got a lot of heart.
And know-how on how to open a campaign office.
(Photos by Denise)
The campaign to pass the abortion ban on South Dakota’s ballot in Initiatied Measure 11 had everything, including the Fleet for Little Feet bus pictured above. They also had lots of campaign literature, yard signs, their trademark balloons, Leslee herself, an emotional personal story, a Catholic bishop, a protestant preacher and two doctors - including the one who is the last South Dakota doctor to perform abortions in South Dakota. (Planned Parenthood now brings doctors in from Minnesota.)
A lot more details and photos will be forthcoming here at Hoghouse Blog. (Hopefully that makes up for me being slow to the keyboard with this post.) For now, here is a look at their campaign office lobby - where the new, bold colors of orange and blue rule.
Here’s the storefront, at 230 Main St., the old Salvation Army thrift store location, which Unruh described as “a gift” to the campaign.
That placard on the top shelf is the 2008 Vote Yes for Life yard sign - coming soon to a yard near you, judging by how many were leaving with folks at the end of the night. There also were bumper stickers, pamphlets and several CDs and DVDs.
They also had these little packets with business cards and those little plastic fetus dolls.
One wall is covered with statements of support from an array of national and state-level anti-abortion leaders.
… including Republican US Senate candidate Joel Dykstra. (Sorry for the soft focus. I discovered later that I had the camera set on “manual focus” for a time. Doh!)
Here was the crowd, which filled in for the speeches. I post this here to give a view of the T-shirts, which one enthusiastic volunteer tried valiantly to get members of the press to accept. (We can’t ethically accept such items from political campaigns, much as I would love to collect a variety of campaign items.)
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I notice that one item that is missing on the shelves is contraception. I would have more respect for the Pro-Life position if they would provide free or low cost contraception to people who want to prevent a pregnancy. Sex education and access to prevention will help prevent the need for abortion. If debate is only about abortion prevention then their position is weakened. It becomes about control and not about helping to prevent unwanted pregnancy. The millions spent on trying to legislate(Roger Hunt)would be better spent on prevention and support for the Mothers who carry the child. In my opinion, the pro-life position is that life is precious up to the moment of birth and then “don’t bother me”. I support prevention, education and choice.
Contraception huh? What happened to us so called “Christians of America?” Think about this people abortion is murder…end of story. You shall not kill..doesnt that commandment ring a bell? Today as Americans and as mortals we make exceptions for what best suits us in this life. Think about whats going to happen when you die, when your standing in front of God. Then what? Honestly if your having sex you should know that when a man and woman have sex they are expressing their love with one another as God has planned -through marriage. SEX ED 101 - When a man and a woman connect physically and the sperm meets the egg a child is created. Its simple people STOP BEING SELFISH. You know the consequences of sex you dont want a child yet dont have sex. A child is a blessing from God a gift of life. Don’t take that away you will one day regret this if not on earth then when you meet your maker face to face. WAKE UP AMERICA -why should the child be punished? Everything happens for a reason. Deal with you consequences thats what we try to teach our kids. Right from wrong. Yet as adults we are the biggest hypocrites known to man kind. If we arrest a man or woman for murder there is capitol punishment….when we abort a child we think nothing of it. STOP THE MURDER AND VOTE YES ON MEASURE 11 - you shall not kill……