Rob Regier with the South Dakota Family Policy Council says pro-abortion groups in his state defeated the abortion prohibition by focusing voters on the lack of a rape-incest clause.

“We tried to beat them at their own game and tried to prove that there was a rape-incest exception in there – a limited one anyway, instead of really focusing on why there shouldn’t be a rape-incest exception in it.”

On the other side of the coin, marriage amendments fared well. Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Colorado, South Dakota and Idaho passed the measure by a large margin; Arizona’s vote on marriage is yet to be determined.  David Fowler is with the Family Action Council of Tennessee is pleased.

“I think it sends a very strong message to our Supreme Court that judicial activism is not welcome here. I think it sends a strong message to our legislature that the people in Tennessee care about marriages, they care about families.”

Gary Bauer with American Values says state marriage amendments also send a signal to courts around the country that America doesn’t want rulings in favor gay marriage. 

“And we also think that the state amendments might hold up under any kind of legal challenge that the gay rights movement might implement in the next few years.”

The verdict is still up in the air for Missouri’s Amendment 2 which, if passed, would legalize human cloning.