South Dakota lawsuit seeks to prevent ballot initiative
Amendment would protect abortion access up to 26 weeks. Groups have sought to expedite state supreme court's ruling to come down before election.
After a South Dakota judge ruled a ballot initiative protecting abortion access could go forward, the antiabortion plaintiffs in the case appealed to the state supreme court in a last-ditch effort to prevent the amendment from going before voters.
The plaintiff, Life Defense Fund, and antiabortion activist Leslee Unruh have sought to expedite the appeal. There are only a little more than three months left until voters must decide–by a simple majority–whether or not the ballot initiative will appear on the ballot.
Rick Weiland, co-founder of Dakotans for Health, behind the proposed amendment, spoke to me about the lawsuit.
“They’re just grabbing at straws right now in real desperation,” Weiland said.
The Life Defense Fund had sought to push a “Decline to Sign” campaign, which Weiland described as a year-long effort to intimidate petitioners and voters.
The state legislature passed an amendment to allow people to withdraw their names from the petition, 94-11. Weiland said that failed.
Weiland said the most significant challenge heading into the last leg of the campaign is getting enough financial support to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The amendment had been controversial because of its wording. Many in the abortion rights community, including a large lobby outside of the state, have said they don’t support the amendment as it stands and have called for people to start again from scratch with more expansive protections.
Weiland said they are still not getting help from national groups. The written language is identical to the 73 decision. It protects abortion up to the second trimester, with a cutoff at 26 weeks.
“No rights or 26 weeks?” Weiland said. “You can’t be a purist in South Dakota. You have to be practical.”
I included the legal brief from the South Dakota case below.
