Concerned Women for America of South Dakota State Director Linda Schauer’s letter to the editor on overturn of Roe v. Wade was recently published in the Rapid City Journal. For those who do not have a subscription, the letter to the editor is printed below.

Letter to the editor: Respect for life
July 8, 2022

We are grateful for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and for South Dakota’s 2005 trigger statute prohibiting abortion except to save the life of the mother. We mourn the lives of over 60 million babies who were victims of the wrongly held decision of the Court in 1973 that legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. We grieve with those mothers (and fathers) who felt it expedient to abort their baby and now live with grief and regret and sometimes physical scars.

We are thankful for those heroes who started and labored in the right-to-life effort. Many sacrificed their time and treasure to save babies. They prayed outside abortion facilities, counseled mothers at pregnancy care centers, and sought laws to restrict the deadly practice.

We are not so naive as to think that no more abortions will occur. After 50 years of a culture of death, we still have hearts and minds to change. We must continue to lovingly support and encourage women in their pregnancies. We must declare respect for life from the moment of conception and understand that all life is precious. We must recognize that we are created in the image of God.

Linda Schauer, State Director, Concerned Women for America, Leola, SD