“Triple Setback For Conservatives”...SD Rejects Abortion Ban...AZ Defeats Gay Marriage Ban...MO Backs Stem Cell Research...

Associated Press David Crary November 8, 2006 07:08 AM

In a triple setback for conservatives, South Dakotans rejected a law that would have banned virtually all abortions, Arizona became the first state to defeat an amendment to ban gay marriage and Missouri approved a measure backing stem cell research.

Nationwide, a total of 205 measures were on the ballots in 37 states Tuesday, but none had riveted political activists across the country like the South Dakota measure. Passed overwhelmingly by the legislature earlier this year, it would have been the toughest abortion law in the nation, allowing the procedure only to save a pregnant woman's life.

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