Arguments in South Dakota movement abound about a proposed ballot initiative
One organization pushes for codifying Roe while others say it doesn't do enough
Activists in South Dakota are split over a proposed ballot initiative that would codify the protections granted by Roe v. Wade.
At the core, one group called Dakotans for Health has pushed for the same legal framework governing abortion regulation before the Dobbs decision. Most other groups that operate in the state have had their leaders say they didn’t think the protections in either Roe or the ballot initiative went far enough.
I spoke to activists who felt both ways. Rick Weiland, co-founder of Dakotans for Health
“There was this idea that you could go beyond Roe,” Weiland said of the reaction. “That Roe was always just the floor, that we could do better. Well, the first thing I say is you don't live and work in South Dakota. You don't have a clue of what it's going to take to get it done out here.”
Groups like the South Dakota Justice Empowerment Network and Planned Parenthood South Dakota Advocates distanced themselves from the ballot initiative. Kim Floren, its cofounder, said many activists have problems with the amendment because it permits regulation in the second and third trimesters.
“If we're gonna throw our weight behind something and put all of our efforts into an amendment that's going to be in our constitution forever, it needs to be better than just Roe, which most reproductive justice organizations have recognized is not enough in the last ten years,” Floren said.
Floren said Weiland had consulted with Planned Parenthood, which wanted to do more polling before deciding on ballot initiative language.
“I will never forget when I saw the news article that they had made the amendment public,” Floren said. “Nobody knew about the plan. It patently blindsided all of us. Yeah, we were trying to work with them before that.”
Weiland responded to those criticisms by pointing out that 93 percent of abortions happen in the first trimester. He said the amendment permits abortions in the second trimester without regulation unless it has to do with the physical health of the mother. He said a rape victim who is in the second trimester would still be able to get an abortion under the proposed amendment.
“I think we're doing the right thing at the right time,” Weiland said. “If you want to add on to that after we're done, knock yourself out, but I think we can pass this. You're more than welcome to come into South Dakota and take it beyond that.”
Republicans have complicated the process for whatever ballot initiative would go before voters by allowing people who sign petitions to withdraw their signatures. There could be some funny business where an antiabortion activist sings on to convince them that they have enough signatures only to remove it at a later point.
It remains to be seen whether this ballot initiative gets approved and passed. I’ll update my readers more on the situation as it develops. But this dispute over whether to codify Roe or model abortion protections after states like New York or California will likely continue in South Dakota and elsewhere. What’s interesting to me is that national Republicans like Donald Trump have now called for a compromise when Roe itself was the compromise that both sides weren’t entirely happy with.