More from a good friend of mine who spent the weekend in South Dakota:

“As some of you know I spent this last weekend in South Dakota working
with the South Dakota Campaign for Health Families
(http://www.sdhealthyfamilies.org/) against South Dakota’s proposed
abortion ban. Just for background, last year the South Dakota
legislature passed a bill that bans all abortion even in cases of rape
or incest. The law was referred to South Dakota voters and will be
decided tomorrow on election day as Referred Law 6. I’m really thankful
to the ACLU for bringing me and over 100 other reproductive rights
activists from across the country to work alongside the campaign. Not
having spent much time in the Midwest, the scene in South Dakota is a
little terrifying. Rolling into Sioux Falls, the largest city in the
state (Pop. 144,000), we were confronted with a main street packed full
of signs supporting the abortion ban and a few protesters of the pro and
anti side.

In the three days that the majority of volunteers were around we knocked
on over 9000 doors and telephoned thousands more voters. Walking through
Sioux Falls neighborhoods talking to voters was an experience in Get Out
the Vote activity like I’ve never had. Responses from residents ranged
from cursing and ripping up our literature to tearful thanks for the
work we were doing. We were knocking on pre-selected doors that were
those voters expected to be most likely to vote against the ban. Even
within this screened group I’d guess about 1 in 6 were voting for the
ban and the vast majority of homes we walked past without even knocking.
I know the campaign in South Dakota is optimistic about their chances of
defeating the ban and the support of many quiet supporters and hoped we
were able to help activate those people.

Even after being with more than 100 amazing volunteers for the weekend I
left South Dakota depressed and worried about the election. In SD, our
only hope of winning is pointing out the lack of a health, rape or
incest exception in the law. What will happen next year when a similar
bill with these exceptions in introduced? We know they will do this
California is confronted with a parental notification initiative (Prop
85) almost identical to the one (Prop 73) defeated just last year.
Oregon may pass a similar initiative (Prop 43) and I don’t think anyone
is certain the Democrats are taking congress. I’m back in California and
am doing a little more work on our election but am really worried about
Wednesday morning. Everyone please remember to vote Tuesday and get
involved in anything you can do in these last days.”