'Not surprisingly, this repellent quote has become notorious.'

In May’s Email from America, Helen Angove is concerned that the actions of a Senator could lead to trench warfare in American politics.

Who is Bill Napoli? Google him and find out.

Now, I am not pro-abortion. I don’t think it is a nice thing, or even a good thing. But I am prepared to consider that it may sometimes be the lesser of two evils.

Moreover, bringing a new life into the world is such a profound and momentous thing - and has such an overwhelming effect on the body and mind of the woman through whom it comes about - that I don’t believe it is something anybody should be forced to participate in unless they are confident they are able to cope with the consequences. In short, I am also pro-choice.

Bill Napoli, on the other hand, is anti-choice. He is the State Senator for South Dakota - the State that made itself notorious recently for banning abortions in almost all circumstances. An exception is still made if continuation of the pregnancy would threaten the life of the mother.

Qualification

Thus, Mr Napoli is prepared to concede that, in certain circumstances, a victim of rape might “qualify” for an abortion.

He describes these circumstances as follows: “…The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.”

Not surprisingly, this repellent quote has become notorious (I find myself particularly disturbed by the bizarre suggestion that a “religious” woman - read “Christian” - is more likely to be psychologically scarred by rape than a non-religious woman) - leading to the results of “google bombing” that you will have seen if you followed my advice at the beginning of this article.

He has suffered other repercussions too. Stephanie McMillan, a political cartoonist, published a strip in which the protagonist dithers about which kind of salad dressing to have. Accepting the premise that, as a woman, she is unqualified to make her own decisions, she phones Bill Napoli to ask his advice - and the cartoon strip gives both his home and work phone numbers.

Calls

Ever since, the hapless Mr Napoli has been inundated with phone calls from women asking questions ranging from the profound to “does it matter if my bra and panties don’t match?”

It is widely acknowledged that pushing this bill through the South Dakota legislature is the first stage of a strategy aimed at getting the issue re-discussed in the Supreme Court.

It is difficult to predict what the outcome will be, as the increasingly militant conservatism of the “flyover states” is still at present largely balanced by the more liberal ideals of the coasts.

However, American politics begins to look more and more like trench warfare, with a huge expanse of no-man’s land between the ideas of the opposing parties and no hope that any dialogue will span it.

It is not a new observation to state that liberals tend to want the government to survey and control everything except what we do with our bodies, whereas conservatives tend to want the government to survey and control everything but the ebb and flow of cash.

Decisions

But the decisions we individually make concerning our bodies rarely affect more than a few people, whereas the decisions that governments have the opportunity to make concerning money can affect the lives and deaths of millions.

Therefore, while poverty exists in the world, I will remain on the side of the liberals - and while I continue to live in the States, I will live in fear of the conservatives.

Helen Angove is a former Anglican priest from the UK who moved to California in July 2003.

• Read other Emails from America