IF NOTHING ELSE, South Dakota’s new antiabortion law created a rough national consensus on a difficult issue: Abortion-rights groups see the law as the fourth sign of the apocalypse; opponents of abortion see it as a tactical blunder. Few people on either side of the abortion divide would be unhappy if the new law disappeared tomorrow.

And while it won’t happen tomorrow, the South Dakota law will eventually disappear. Abortion-rights advocates may attempt to overturn the law by referendum–which would have only a small chance of success. But failing that, they will seek, and find, refuge in the courts. Whichever trial judge gets the case, he will find against Gov. Mike Rounds. The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will uphold the trial judge. If Rounds appeals, Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees the Eighth Circuit, will likely recommend that the High Court decline to hear it.