Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Hahn said Monday he’d veto legislation similar to South Dakota’s restrictive new anti-abortion law.

Taking a position counter to the three Republican candidates, all of whom said they would sign such a bill, Hahn said the issue shouldn’t be approached in theoretical terms.

“What the South Dakota law means,” he said, “is that I as governor would have to look a young woman in the eye who has been raped by a family member or by a stranger walking home and tell her she and her doctor are going to jail if she has an abortion.

“I’m unwilling to say that,” Hahn declared in a telephone interview.

The South Dakota law prohibits abortions except when required to save the life of the mother. 

Hahn said he essentially agrees with abortion rights defined by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

“And, frankly, I get a little grumpy when people suggest I am anti-life or pro-death or not a good Christian if I have what I believe are moderate views on abortion,” he said.

“We can be religious and still believe allowing a woman to make that choice is the right thing to do.”

Hahn said he’d also have practical reasons to veto a law patterned after the South Dakota legislation.

“It’s against the law of the land,” as determined by the Supreme Court, he said, and therefore would be “constitutionally unsound.”

Furthermore, he said, if South Dakota’s purpose is to seek reconsideration of Roe v. Wade by the newly constituted Supreme Court, “let them bear the costs” of appeal without Nebraska sharing similar legal expenses.

During a Republican gubernatorial debate in Lincoln Monday night, Gov. Dave Heineman, Rep. Tom Osborne and Omaha businessman Dave Nabity all said they would sign legislation patterned after South Dakota’s new abortion restrictions.

As a Christian, Hahn said, he is comfortable with his own view on abortion rights.

“I’ve sought counsel of clergy, I’ve studied Scripture, I’ve read the writings of theologians and I’ve prayed about this,” he said.

“On certain moral issues like abortion and divorce, there are times when individuals need to make their own decisions, taking into consideration their own faith.”

If government controls that decision, he cautioned, “they’ll soon be in our gun cabinets, too.”

Hahn said he is a strong supporter of 2nd Amendment gun ownership rights.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.