American Civil Identities Union attorney Sondra Goldschein spoke last Wednesday about her battles for reproductive freedom for women in South Dakota in 2006.

Goldschein was the keynote speaker at the law school during the university’s Reproductive Rights Week, which was devoted to educating students on reproductive issues.

She was a key player in the fight to protect the rights of women in South Dakota under the Roe vs. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision.

“People did not feel safe publicly expressing their views,” said Goldschein, referring to the people in South Dakota. “People would drive by and pretend to honk their horns, and we realized they were trying to show support but were scared.”

Prior to South Dakota’s attempted ban on abortion in 2006, women seeking an abortion found it very difficult to do so.

Goldschein explained that women would have to make their way to the one abortion clinic in the state, which had no windows for fear of attacks by protestors.

The women seeking abortion had to wait 24 hours before being allowed an abortion.

If a teenager attempted to get an abortion, she would have to first notify her parents or get permission from a judge.

The clinic would also have to fly a doctor in from Minnesota once a week because, according to Goldschein, doctors who supported abortion in South Dakota were afraid of how they could be treated by the people in their community.

South Dakota also did not allow Medicaid to cover the abortion if the woman’s life was at risk, which is against federal law.

The ACLU was able to bring in volunteers from all over the country to campaign to put the abortion issue on the state ballet.

During the campaign, now as the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, volunteers knocked on 13,000 doors in two days.

Goldschein believes that the success in South Dakota was due to showing voters that there were many people in South Dakota who support a woman’s right to an abortion.

“Showing people they’re not alone makes a big difference,” she said.

After talking about the ACLU’s success in South Dakota, Goldschein discussed future actions of ACLU.

“We turned a corner in 2006,” Goldschein said. “There is a whole new landscape in 2007. We have a very pro-choice Senate Majority Leader.”

“What do we do now that we’re not on the defensive?” Goldschein asked. “We might be able to choose what we want and work for it.”

Goldschein said that one possible campaign would be ending abstinence education classes and teaching safe sex across the country.

The government currently spends $1 billion on abstinence education, according to Goldschein.

The event was free and open to students, faculty and staff and to the Denver community.