Leslee Unruh
Encyclopedia
Leslee Unruh is an American
pro-life
activist and executive director of the VoteYesForLife.com campaign. In 1984, spurred by her own abortion experience, she and her husband Allen founded the Alpha Center to offer counseling to women who had had abortions or were considering them.
In 1997, she helped to form the Abstinence Clearinghouse, a Sioux Falls-based nonprofit with 4,000 affiliates in 50 states and 105 countries. In March 2006, Unruh was a key lobbyist in favor of the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act
in South Dakota
, the law most restrictive of abortion rights in the United States, which banned the procedure in almost any circumstances, including those where the pregnancy threatened the woman's health. It was overturned by South Dakota's voters in a referendum eight months later. Pro-life
activists were undaunted and an amended version of the bill, with exceptions for rape, incest, and maternal health, was scheduled for a new vote in 2008. The amended law has been seen by all sides as the vehicle for a potential challenge to Roe v. Wade
in the Supreme Court.
Unruh's "informed consent" law of 2005 requires South Dakota doctors to tell patients that abortion can cause depression and sterility, among other alleged side-effects. Initially found to be unconstitutional, this law resurfaced when the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned in June 2008 a lower court's ruling that blocked enforcement of the law; as of 2009 the case was back in district court. Unruh's activism garnered South Dakota $200 million in federal funding to be spent teaching abstinence outside of marriage to public school students.
For her efforts in South Dakota, Unruh was awarded the 2006 Malachi Award by Operation Save America
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
activist and executive director of the VoteYesForLife.com campaign. In 1984, spurred by her own abortion experience, she and her husband Allen founded the Alpha Center to offer counseling to women who had had abortions or were considering them.
In 1997, she helped to form the Abstinence Clearinghouse, a Sioux Falls-based nonprofit with 4,000 affiliates in 50 states and 105 countries. In March 2006, Unruh was a key lobbyist in favor of the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act
Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act
The Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act was a state law passed by the South Dakota State Legislature in early 2006. It emerged as an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade via enacting a ban on abortion in the state of South Dakota...
in South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, the law most restrictive of abortion rights in the United States, which banned the procedure in almost any circumstances, including those where the pregnancy threatened the woman's health. It was overturned by South Dakota's voters in a referendum eight months later. Pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
activists were undaunted and an amended version of the bill, with exceptions for rape, incest, and maternal health, was scheduled for a new vote in 2008. The amended law has been seen by all sides as the vehicle for a potential challenge to Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
in the Supreme Court.
Unruh's "informed consent" law of 2005 requires South Dakota doctors to tell patients that abortion can cause depression and sterility, among other alleged side-effects. Initially found to be unconstitutional, this law resurfaced when the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned in June 2008 a lower court's ruling that blocked enforcement of the law; as of 2009 the case was back in district court. Unruh's activism garnered South Dakota $200 million in federal funding to be spent teaching abstinence outside of marriage to public school students.
For her efforts in South Dakota, Unruh was awarded the 2006 Malachi Award by Operation Save America
Operation Save America
Operation Save America is an organization based in Dallas, Texas, that opposes human induced abortion and its legality. In 1994, Flip Benham became the director of the organization, then called Operation Rescue National. Benham replaced Keith Tucci, who had replaced Randall Terry...
.