(LifeSiteNews) — Pro-lifers in South Dakota have work to do now that a pro-abortion group has placed a proposal on the state’s November 5 ballot that seeks to ensure women can kill their unborn children up to birth.
South Dakota’s Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson has announced that her office has validated just over 46,000 of the 55,000 signatures submitted by “Dakotans For Health” for a constitutional amendment that would codify a “right” to abortion. The group surpassed the necessary 35,000 signatures.
As reported by LifeSite, South Dakota’s current pro-life trigger law went into effect following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The law prohibits abortion throughout pregnancy, with an exception for when medical opinion deems it “necessary” to save the mother’s life due to a physical condition. Direct abortion is always gravely immoral and never needed nor ethically justified to preserve a mother’s life or health. Thirteen other states in the U.S. have similar near-total abortion bans.
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The proposed amendment in South Dakota would change the state’s law to allow a pregnant woman to abort her child during the first trimester without any “regulations” whatsoever. It would permit the state to “regulate” abortion during the second and third trimesters, except for when abortion is considered “necessary,” according to an abortionist, to preserve the life or “health” of the pregnant woman, including for emotional or mental issues.
“Any regulation of a pregnant woman’s abortion decision, or of an abortion, during the second trimester must be reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman” and not of the unborn baby, the amendment states. “The Legislature cannot alter the provisions of a constitutional amendment.”
Life Defense Fund has been working to educate South Dakotans since August 2022 about the dangers of the amendment. The group has primarily focused on passing out flyers next to petition circulators to ensure the public is fully informed.
READ: Pro-lifers warn left-wing activists are lying to promote radical abortion amendment in South Dakota
Republican State Rep. Jon Hansen previously told LifeSite that Dakotans For Health has been misleading the public about the proposal.
Amendment supporters “have also used signs calling this petition ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-family,’ coaxing countless South Dakotans, even pastors, into signing it,” he explained to LifeSite in November of 2023.
According to CatholicVote’s Josh Mercer, pro-abortion activists are attempting to add ballot proposals in more than a half dozen other states this fall, including Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Nevada. A total of 11 could ultimately be placed before voters across the country, NBC reports.
The South Dakota amendment requires a simple majority vote to go into effect. If approved, it would eliminate safety measures, such as the requirement that a licensed medical professional commits the abortion. It would also undermine parental rights by not mandating parental notice and consent if a minor seeks an abortion. Opponents have until June 17 to challenge its placement on the ballot.
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At present, Republicans outnumber Democrats 63 to 7 in the South Dakota state House and 31 to 4 in the state Senate. Republican governor Kristi Noem was first elected in 2018 and handily won re-election in 2022. She is currently on Donald Trump’s shortlist for his vice-presidential running mate.