Last month, over 100 University of South Florida students rose in unison during a lecture by Ann Coulter and walked out of the Sun Dome on the Tampa campus. Nine of them kept right on walking to South Dakota. Metaphorically, that is.
Earlier this year the South Dakota Legislature passed, and Republican Gov. Mike Rounds signed, a draconian law outlawing all abortions in the state. But grassroots activists within that state managed to place a referendum on last Tuesday's ballot with the goal of overturning the ban.
Because of that referendum, USF students decided to drive 25 hours to South Dakota in order to convince voters to overturn the state's ban on abortions.
"I was in shock that South Dakota's ballot had this referred law," said Feminist Student Alliance (FSA) member Vanessa Ruiz. "I went because I weighed out the importance of my presence in one place or another, and that place was in South Dakota, out on their streets, letting people know how important their decision is."
Seven FSA at USF members drove to South Dakota and met two students from the USF chapter of Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood, who had flown from Tampa. They joined forces with other volunteers in South Dakota for three days of phone calls, waving signs on street corners and neighborhood canvassing. FSA at USF Chair Ali Hall said that some of the Sioux Falls residents she visited had signs in their yards saying "Vote Yes" (to keep the abortion ban).
They "didn't know exactly what the law entails," explained Hall. "And then once we told them [the law didn't allow exceptions for rape or incest] they said, 'We'll vote no.'"
Added Ruiz: "We knocked on approximately 10,000 doors and we helped many understand what this all meant."
During the speech that caused the student walkout in October, Ann Coulter complained that because the unelected Supreme Court granted abortion rights through Roe v. Wade and upheld them through Planned Parenthood v. Casey, citizens have never had the chance to vote on whether abortions should be legal. Coulter felt that this was a short-cutting of democracy and that it had led "pro-life" activists to murder abortion doctors — "or, depending on one's perspective," she added, "had a procedure performed on him with a rifle," a comment that some in the audience chuckled at. "When you take democracy away from people," she said, "some are going to conclude the only way they can react is with violence."
Hall organized the Coulter walkout. "Talk about soulless. I was very upset … This isn't about abortion. This is about having a choice as a woman."
Regarding the pundit's comment about the murder of abortion doctors, Hall said, "I think the most upsetting part of it was having the support that she had, the people laughing about someone's death."
But these student activists had the last laugh. Less than a month after Coulter's rant about democracy, citizens did get to vote on the issue. And in South Dakota, the democratic process determined that a majority wants women to have the right to choose; 56 percent of South Dakotans voted last Tuesday to repeal the abortion ban.
Planned Parenthood's South Dakota director Kate Looby credits volunteers with making the difference. "This is a David and Goliath story," Looby told the Toronto Star. "We were up against pro-life groups that have been well-organized for 30 years, but volunteers come out of the woodwork."
USF's Vanessa Ruiz was "thankful" for the result.
"I was thrilled when I found out and also ready to do the next thing to save Roe, as this very well may not be the last."
This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2006.