In the heated competition between states over who can pass the shittiest laws... I give you South Dakota, which has created an ugly cocktail of racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric mixed in with anti-choice legislation. Republican legislators are trying to pass an anti-abortion law, arguing it necessary because of the influx of Asian immigrants to the state. Why? Because Asians abort their female children, they say.
GOP Lawmaker: We Need to Ban Sex-Selective Abortions Because of Asian Immigrants
Last week, the South Dakota House voted 60 to 10 to pass HR 1162, a bill that would ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus, or "sex-selective" abortions. Proponents of the bill seem to be leaning hard on the argument that the ban is necessary because of the state's burgeoning populations from parts foreign. Huh?
Because, as state representative Stace Nelson whitemansplained, "the rest of the world does not value the lives of women as much as I value the lives of my daughters." He apparently picked up this wisdom during the many years he spent in Asia as a Marine. Nice try with the faux feminism, Senator.
We call bullshit. The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum calls the ban nothing more than "a wolf in sheep's clothing," and that sex-selective abortion bans perpetuate negative stereotypes about Asian American women. They've launched an online petition calling on the South Dakota Legislature not to pass HR 1162:
