As Rep. Fred Deutsch (R-4/Florence) ramps up the culture war by peddling the anti-abortion distraction on our university campuses, Senator Angie Buhl O’Donnell (D-15/Sioux Falls) offers the one line that captures the proper role of government in women’s reproductive choices:
Senator Angie Buhl O’Donnell (D-15/Sioux Falls)
Angie Buhl O’Donnell grew up in one Catholic household and married into another. As a baby, she was given up for adoption and taken into a loving home. Because of her religious background and her personal history, Buhl O’Donnell detested the idea of abortion.
Then she grew up.
“I am pro-choice, but I did not come to it lightly,” says the 30-year-old nursing assistant, who doubles as a Democratic state senator representing Sioux Falls. “Ultimately, it’s really hard to imagine a lawmaker having an appropriate place in whether, and when, to start a family” [Mike Mullen, “Borders Without Doctors: South Dakota’s War on Abortion and Modernity,” CityPages.com, 2015.11.11].
Rep. Fred Deutsch and Senator Angie Buhl O’Donnell have as much business telling my neighbor across the street whether she should carry a pregnancy to term as I do—zero. We need more lawmakers like Senator Buhl O’Donnell who recognize their proper role.
