Selective editing by the Associated Press leads to Rep. Rhoden issuing a statement

In today's Rapid City Journal, Representative Larry Rhoden says yes, he made that statement. Except the first half of it was a separate statement from the second. So, why did the AP put them together:
State Rep. Larry Rhoden, R-Union Center, said an Associated Press story in Monday’s Journal inaccurately interpreted comments he made in an interview about Referred Law 6, the state abortion ban he helped pass during the 2006 South Dakota Legislature. The ban contains no exceptions for rape or incest. Rhoden said the AP story did not accurately reflect his views.

The story quoted Rhoden, the House majority leader, as saying: “I’ve spent a great deal of time and thought wondering if it would have been wiser to write in the exceptions. We have a long row to hoe based on the numbers I’ve seen.”

Rhoden didn’t dispute the accuracy of the quotes, but he said the story put together the two statements that he made at separate points in an interview granted three weeks ago to suggest that he had second thoughts about the abortion ban, HB1215, because it was behind in the polls at that time.

The quotes were introduced by a paraphrase: “He (Rhoden) was swayed by women’s testimony that their abortions left emotional scars, but now — aware of polls showing his side behind — he has second thoughts.”
Read it all here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good luck in Rhoden's getting the real story out. I've heard his doctored comments on the radio and TV as have most people, and that's all they are going to remember.

And we wonder why people are reluctant to grant interviews to the press!?!
Anonymous said…
It's always the fault of the New York Associated Press liberals.

Plain and simple backpedaling on Rhoden's part.
Anonymous said…
Now Rhoden acknowledges that 1215 has no exceptions. Thune previously acknowledged this.

Why do the "VOTE YES" people keep claiming there are exceptions then? Why does the link on this website say there are exceptions. Can they claim the moral high ground at the same time they are lying to people?
Anonymous said…
I'd like to see that 13 year old incest victim try to get a morning after pill. You think she knows there is a pill or where to get it? You think she knows she needs it? She's going to empty her piggy bank, hop on her bike right away and head for planned parenthood?
Anonymous said…
Anon 9:36 1. Incest never happens and if it does, that girl should know better than to have premarital sex. Have her call Leslee at the Abstinence Clearinghouse for further instruction. 2. That 13 year old should happily have her baby because it is "God's will". 3. After having that baby, that 13 year old better not apply for any public assistance unless she has a full time job. I suppose you think she should get some free job training too? Typical liberal. Don't you think it is time for this 13 year old to be responsibile for herself?
Anonymous said…
I take it that you are perfectly comfortable with criminals committing incest being able to legally get rid of the evidence of their crime by having the resulting baby cut from the body of their young victims so they will not be found out?

Whether you realize it or not, this has been happening in South Dakota and will continue to happen as long as abortion is legal. How does it make you feel to be an enabler for these psychotic perverts? Proud?
Anonymous said…
No, I think it's way better to allow a 13 year old to bear the child of her father or brother so we can completely traumatize and possibly physically harm the girl but then use the resulting mass of tissue, hair and bones that she bears in nine months as evidence. Good thinking.
Anonymous said…
Does the Vote Yes for Back Alley Abortions campaign really believe that when they make abortion illegal that perpetuators of incest are going to rush their victims down to the nearest non-Catholic hospital to get EC?

I'm sure that's the first thing on their mind.

I'll tell you what's going to happen. The girl/woman will turn to an unsafe an dirty abortion.
Anonymous said…
Chad - surely you know that there is no safe abortion, not even for the mother and definitely not for the child?

Anon 12:20 – whether you want to admit it or not, many victims of incest have continued to be victimized because their attacker was able to remove the evidence against him by aborting the baby that resulted from his abuse.

If this poor girl delivers a “mass of tissue, hair and bones” as evidence, the delivery will be no less traumatizing for her than the continuing abuse by a family member.

Letting these criminals carry on their perverted cruelty doesn’t bother you?
Anonymous said…
Definition of absurd: "If we stop abortion, prosecution of the offender will be easier because the inbred child will be born."

Anon. 12:14 and 1:15, how many incest cases do you know of where the inbred child was used as evidence by the prosecution? Name one single case.

Questions: If a girl doesn't become pregnant, is it really incest/rape? If a boy is sodomized, is that really rape?

Answer: Conception has nothing to do with whether the act constitutes rape or incest.
Anonymous said…
You all make it sound like the majority of all abortions are for incest and/or rape. Get real. This is a very, very, very small minority. Most are done for convenience, and that is why I already voted YES on this issue.
Anonymous said…
Anon 2:57 - Cite your authority. How do you know?

If what you say is true, how come the proposed amendment has no exceptions for the extremely rare rape/incest abortions?
Anonymous said…
3:03. To answer your second question, if that was included, anyone requesting an abortion could use that excuse irregardless if true or not.

To answer your first request:

Rape/incest accounted for 1.0% of abortions in 2000.
www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ap85/001/2004/reasonsForAbortion.html

Rape/incest accounted for 0.9% of total abortions.
www.vanderbilt.edu/SFL/abortion_statistics.htm

Rape/incest accounted for less than 2% of total abortions.
www.mccl.org/abortion_statistics.htm

Just search for "abortion stats for rape/incest." There are many more if you are interested.
Anonymous said…
The 13 year old can still go out of state to have her precious abortion.

It's a great comprimise. No abortion in South Dakota and the liberals still get to allow 13 year olds to have abortions.

Maybe Stephi will drive her to Minnesota.
Anonymous said…
The yes on 6 people have absolutely no compassion for crime victims, young girls, anybody. To them this is all about breeding. Women and girls to them are nothing more than incubators who must bear children no matter how young they are and no whether they became pregnant voluntarily or not. Women are slaves to biology.
Anonymous said…
As a woman who has the audacity to believe that I have as many rights and privileges as a man (maybe more) I am deeply offended by your insinuation that because we don’t approve of the butcher of unborn children as a means of birth control we are merely “incubators who must bear children no matter how young they are” and “are slaves to biology”!!

I am a victim of sexual abuse that thankfully never resulted in a pregnancy. However, had I conceived, I would have given up a few months of my life to allow my child to have the gift of life, regardless of how that child was conceived. My life is not worth any more than the life of my unborn baby.

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