PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposal to make South Dakota one of the hardest places in the country to get abortion pills gained support Tuesday from Republican House lawmakers, even though a federal judge has halted a similar state rule from taking effect.
Every Republican on the House Health and Human Services committee voted to advance the bill for a vote in the full chamber this week. It would require women seeking an abortion to make three separate trips to a doctor in order to take abortion pills. Women in South Dakota can currently get both drugs in the two-dose regimen during a single visit and take the second dose at home.
Noem is not the only South Dakota politician taking aim at abortion pills. Her Republican primary challenger, Rep. Steve Haugaard, is pushing a proposal to ban administration of the drugs for abortions altogether. His bill passed the Republican-controlled House Tuesday and will next be considered in the Senate.
But both proposals would face uphill battles in federal court.
A federal judge this month granted a preliminary injunction against a rule to restrict abortion pills that Noem initiated through in an executive order. Planned Parenthood, which operates the state’s only clinic that regularly provides abortion services, sued the state, arguing it was an unconstitutional violation of abortion rights and would have made it practically impossible for the clinic to provide any medicine-induced abortions.
U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier, who was appointed under former President Bill Clinton, wrote in her order that the rule “likely imposes an undue burden on Planned Parenthood and its patients’ right to seek an abortion.” However, Noem has appealed her order to a higher court.
The governor’s office acknowledged that most of the proposal is tied up in federal court and put a clause in the bill that stipulates most of it wouldn’t take effect until the court battle is resolved.
The Supreme Court’s willingness to consider striking down Roe v. Wade — the 1973 landmark decision that established the nationwide right to an abortion — has prompted a flurry of legislation in statehouses this year.
But Noem has argued that she brought the bill out of concern for women’s safety.
“In the instance of telemedicine abortions, someone can make a phone call, get online, order the drugs to be sent to their home and there is no medical supervision,” she said at a news conference this month.
The Food and Drug Administration last year permanently lifted a requirement that people seeking the drugs pick them up in person after a scientific review supported broadening access.
The agency found complications from the medication to be rare. About 40% of all abortions in the U.S. are done through medication rather than surgery. The FDA has reported only 26 deaths associated with the drug since 2000, though not all of those can be directly attributed to the medication due to existing health conditions and other factors.
“For South Dakota to put these barriers in front of women says that they believe they are smarter than the FDA,” Sarah Stoez, the president of Planned Parenthood North Central States, told The Associated Press this month.
Haugaard also pushed the House to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would define a fertilized egg as a living human being. His proposal was defeated by a one-vote margin Tuesday in the Republican-controlled House after fellow Republicans pointed out it would add a potentially unwieldy definition to the state constitution.
“Roe versus Wade is on the ropes and hopefully on its way out,” Haugaard said.
But Stoesz questioned why Republican lawmakers are aggressively attacking abortion rights when the U.S. Supreme Court is expected later this year to issue a ruling that could potentially strike down Roe. South Dakota is one of a dozen states with a law to ban abortions that would be triggered if Roe is defeated.
“What the Legislature is doing right now just strikes me as purely political posturing,” Stoesz said. “But at the end of the day, real people’s lives are affected.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Make it easier to get birth control pills to stop life production and make it harder to kill the life once it has been created.
#6 of the 10 Commandments of God – “Thou Shalt Not Kill”
The damage to our children who survive the gauntlet of abortion death is every bit as great as those who never make it to see the light of day. When you cheapen the sanctity of human life down to the point of being just a collective of cells in a petri dish, those who grow up witnessing the “You Rape them, we scrape them” mentality of the incestuous secular liberal left just learn to rape, then scrape or kill as adults, as if life was just some meaningless thing without sanctity who disrespect the life of others, just as they disrespect their own, as we who have lived before and since Roe v Wade have witnessed the friendly bonds of human affection unravel faster and unnoticeable as the sanctity and honesty of a Democrat stolen election.
To the dems, that’s only a suggestion.
“U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier, who was appointed under former President Bill Clinton, wrote in her order that the rule “likely imposes an undue burden on Planned Parenthood and its patients’ right to seek an abortion.” “Its patients’ right to seek” the murder of an innocent baby in the womb! Hey Judge Karen, you impose an “undue burden” on society, as you support murder, because you “exist”. Jude Karen, you human beings, who support the murder of innocent babies, will meet your Maker one of these days and your “Maker” will knock the god complex out of you.
YET MORE proof, that all judges,, obama, clinton or EITHER BUSH put onto the bench are not worth an ounce of spit.
When I was physically able to participate in pro-life activism, Planned Parenthood denied they provided abortion, only counseling. That was a lie then and they don’t hide it now. They also denied providing educational materials to the sex ed classes. I exposed them then and nobody objects to it now. We have generationally let PP and it’s minions teach our kids that murdering infants is OK as long as they are inside the mother. God had a better plan for His wonderful creation. God help us now…