What’s in South Dakota? Well other than Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills and good scenery, not much.

But South Dakota state legislature recently put the state in the national spotlight by passing the most restrictive abortion bill in decades. The legislature passed the ban last week and Gov. Mike Rounds is inclined to sign it, which could set the stage for a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal.

Of course, the bill’s supporters hope this will happen, and perhaps South Dakota hopes to be remembered as the pioneer anti-abortion state — what a license plate motto that would be.

Conservatives, including President Bush in his State of the Union speech, complain about “activist judges” — ones that let personal beliefs leak into interpretation of law. This South Dakota bill is nothing more than that: an attempt to change a ruling that has stood for more than 30 years. What happened to precedents?

Clearly, this is an attempt to overrule Roe v. Wade and in doing so, test Bush’s new Supreme Court appointments John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee all have introduced bills this year to ban most abortions, but South Dakota’s bill bans any abortion except when the mother’s life is in danger.

The bill does not include exceptions for rape or incest victims, going against Bush’s recently-voiced belief that abortion should be allowed in these cases.

Sandra Day O’Connor was the swing vote in the high court’s last ruling on abortion: a 2000 ruling on late term, “partial birth” abortions. With O’Connor gone, conservatives are hoping Alito, her replacement, will see things their way.

In any event, the Supreme Court has voiced its view on abortion before. South Dakota’s attempt to overrule a law more than 30 years old is a waste of the legislature’s time and comes at a suspiciously-favorable time for conservatives.

Is abortion really the biggest issue concerning our country? Lawmakers should spend more time observing precedents instead of passing politically-motivated bills that will almost certainly be revoked.