S. Dakota Becomes Abortion Focal Point
Voters to Decide Fate of State Ban
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 28, 2006

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Kayla Brandt had an abortion three years ago and instantly hated having done it. Now, hoping to stop other women from making the same choice, she is a public advocate for the most severe abortion ban in the nation.

"I don't want anyone to feel what I did," Brandt says.

Maria Bell is a Sioux Falls obstetrician-gynecologist who also joined the political fray for the first time, but on the opposite side. Appalled by the attempt to shut the state's only abortion clinic, she says she would not be able to live with herself unless she worked to overturn the law.

"To think passing a law will stop abortion is incredibly naive," Bell said. the rest