Abortion In South Dakota

Abortion in South Dakota is legal. 48% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

There were 878 legal abortions in 2000, 895 in 2001, 819 in 2003, 551 in 2014, and 444 in 2015.

Terminology

The abortion debate most commonly relates to the "induced abortion" of an embryo or fetus at some point in a pregnancy, which is also how the term is used in a legal sense. Some also use the term "elective abortion", which is used in relation to a claim to an unrestricted right of a woman to an abortion, whether or not she chooses to have one. The term elective abortion or voluntary abortion describes the interruption of pregnancy before viability at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons.

Anti-abortion advocates tend to use terms such as "unborn baby", "unborn child", or "pre-born child", and see the medical terms "embryo", "zygote", and "fetus" as dehumanizing. Both "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of terms labeled as political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light. "Pro-choice" implies that the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice", while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life". The Associated Press encourages journalists to use the terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion".

Context

Free birth control correlates to teenage girls having a fewer pregnancies and fewer abortions. A 2014 New England Journal of Medicine study found such a link.  At the same time, a 2011 study by Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health also found that states with more abortion restrictions have higher rates of maternal death, higher rates of uninsured pregnant women, higher rates of infant and child deaths, higher rates of teen drug and alcohol abuse, and lower rates of cancer screening.

According to a 2017 report from the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health, states that tried to pass additional constraints on a women's ability to access legal abortions had fewer policies supporting women's health, maternal health and children's health.  These states also tended to resist expanding Medicaid, family leave, medical leave, and sex education in public schools. According to Megan Donovan, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute, states have legislation seeking to protect a woman's right to access abortion services have the lowest rates of infant mortality in the United States.

Poor women in the United States had problems paying for menstrual pads and tampons in 2018 and 2019. Almost two-thirds of American women could not pay for them. These were not available through the federal Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC). Lack of menstrual supplies has an economic impact on poor women.  A study in St. Louis found that 36% had to miss days of work because they lacked adequate menstrual hygiene supplies during their period.  This was on top of the fact that many had other menstrual issues including bleeding, cramps and other menstrual induced health issues. South Dakota was one of a majority that taxed essential hygiene products like tampons and menstrual pads as of November 2018.

History

Legislative history

By 1950, the state legislature would pass a law that stating that a woman who had an abortion or actively sought to have an abortion regardless of whether she went through with it were guilty of a criminal offense. Some states require that a person seeking an abortion wait for a period of one to six days, variously, after visiting the provider for the first time and before having the abortion. The state of South Dakota requires that the patient obtain mandatory counseling from an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center during this time frame.

In 2004, a bill outlawing abortion passed both houses of the legislature, but was vetoed by the Governor due to a technicality. The state's legislature subsequently passed five laws curtailing the legality of abortion in 2005. The majority of a legislative "task force" then issued a report recommending that the Legislature illegalize all abortions, which would lead to a challenge of the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade in the United States Supreme Court. A separate minority report criticizing the process and reaching different conclusions was also released. Several members of the South Dakota legislative majority, as well as Governor Rounds, acknowledged that the overt goal of WHHLPA was to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe.

The South Dakota Legislature passed a law in 2006 that banned abortion in the state. It was signed into law by Republican Governor Mike Rounds. Planned Parenthood challenged the law using a ballot initiative instead of using the courts. The state was one of 23 states in 2007 to have a detailed abortion-specific informed consent requirement. In the informed consent materials given to women in Idaho, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas required by statute, the materials used graphic and inflammatory language. The law also required the woman be told how far advanced her pregnancy was. The informed consent materials in South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia given to women seeking abortions include counseling materials that say women who have abortions may have suicidal thoughts or they may experience "postabortion traumatic stress syndrome."  The latter syndrome is not recognized by American Psychological Association or the American Psychiatric Association. The written informed consent materials in South Dakota say "unborn child may feel physical pain" without specifying any time period during gestation. The Journal of the American Medical Association has concluded that pain sensors do not develop in the fetus until between weeks 23 and 30.

In 2008, South Dakota Legislature passed another anti-abortion law, this time banning abortion in all cases except for rape, incest, and the health of the woman. Planned Parenthood again successfully challenged this using a ballot initiative instead of using the courts. In 2013, state Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) law applied to medication induced abortions and private doctor offices in addition to abortion clinics. The state had a law on the books in August 2018 that would be triggered if Roe v. Wade was overturned. As of 2018, South Dakota has a law the prohibits state funds for being used for abortions unless there is a therapeutic reason of the mother's life being in danger. In mid-May 2019, state law banned abortion after week 22.

Ballot box history

A referendum to repeal the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act was placed on ballot for the November 2006 statewide election due to a successful petition drive by the organization South Dakota Healthy Families. On May 30, over 38,000 petition signatures were filed, more than twice the 17,000 required to place a measure on the ballot. On November 7, WHHLPA was repealed by the South Dakota electorate; the vote was 56%-44% favoring repeal. In 2008, another referendum, by a vote of 55%-45%, repealed an anti-abortion law passed earlier in the year which would have restricted abortion to cases involving rape, incest, and the woman's health.

Judicial history

The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester. In Planned Parenthood v. Rounds, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a South Dakota law requiring doctors to give patients false or misleading information about the suicide risk in women who have abortions was not unconstitutional.

Clinic history

Number of abortion clinics in South Dakota by year.

In 1981, Dr. Buck Williams started offering abortion services at his Sioux Falls clinic. At the time, he was the only abortion service provider in the state. In 1989, he approached Planned Parenthood about taking over his clinic. At the time, Planned Parenthood had no operations in South Dakota. They agreed, and have been the state's only abortion service provider ever since. Planned Parenthood moved out of their old building, and the building was taken over by AlphaCenter and run by Leslee Unruh. Unruh is very anti-abortion. Some women would mistakenly go there after the move, thinking it was the Planned Parenthood facility. Another clinic opened in the stated by 1982 but was closed by 1992. In the period between 1992 and 1996, the state saw no change in the total number of abortion clinics. While only three states saw gains in this period, this state was one of four to see no changes with 1 abortion clinic in the state in 1996.

In 2014, there was 1 abortion clinics in the state. In 2014, 98% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic That year, 77% of women in the state aged 15 – 44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic. In 2016, only a small section of the state required women to drive fewer than 40 miles to access an abortion clinic. In 2017, there was 1 Planned Parenthood clinics in a state with a population of 181,145 women aged 15 – 49 of which 1 offered abortion services. The Planned Parenthood facility was the only one providing abortion services in the state. Unable to find local doctors to run the clinic, they hired four doctors who flew in from out of state to work on rotation. This makes the clinic very expensive to run. In May 2019, the state was one of six states in the nation with only one abortion clinic.

Statistics

In the period between 1972 and 1974, there were zero recorded illegal abortion death in the state. In 1990, 72,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy.

The lowest number of legal induced abortions by state in 2000 occurred in Idaho with 801, while South Dakota was second with 878, and North Dakota was third with 1,341. Idaho had the fewest induced abortions in 2001 with 738, while South Dakota was second with 895, and North Dakota was third with 1,216. In 2003, the state of South Dakota had the lowest number of legal induced abortions with 819. Idaho was second with 911, while North Dakota was third with 1,354. In 2013, among white women aged 15–19, there were  abortions 70, 10 abortions for black women aged 15–19, 0 abortions for Hispanic women aged 15–19, and 10 abortions for women of all other races. In 2014, 48% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 7.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Abortion rights views and activities

Protests

Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.

Anti-abortion views and activities

Organizations

AlphaCenter is based in Sioux Falls and run by Leslee Unruh.

Violence

In October 1999, Martin Uphoff set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, causing $100 worth of damage. He was later sentenced to 60 months in prison.

Footnotes