The South Dakota Legislature has strong ideology on abortion.
The current abortion law in South Dakota has no exceptions except for life of the mother, which many health professionals say is confusing. When Rep. Erin Tobin attempted to introduce legislation simply to clarify what would count as life of the mother exceptions, Right to Life opposed this clarification, Tobin withdrew her bill, and later Tobin was defeated in the primary election by an opponent who received backing from Right to Life. The legislature will not moderate the abortion law that makes SD one of the most restrictive in the country, essentially a total ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or health complications. Any attempt for change must come from the ballot.
Amendment G will let people decide if women should be able to choose to have an abortion in South Dakota. I do encourage people to read the text of the amendment.
The No on G side does have good branding (and an awful lot of money), because most people will not read the amendment, but just see their signs, which claim that the amendment goes too far. But the preference of the No on G folks is a total abortion ban.
So if you only see the advertisements claiming G goes too far, you may be surprised the read that Amendment G says After the end of the second trimester, the State may regulate or prohibit abortion, except when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman’s physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman. The amendment sets out a trimester framework, where abortion is allowed in the first two trimesters but legislatures will be allowed to regulate or ban it in the third trimester.
Compare the text of the bill with the current no exceptions law. Voting yes on G lets women make their own choices in the first trimester, with some regulation allowed in the second. Voting no chooses to keep the current no exceptions status quo. I do believe that the majority of voters are uncomfortable with the no exceptions status quo, and I hope they will read the amendment and vote to replace the current total ban with Amendment G.
Leave a Reply