South Dakota Planned Parenthood Advocate

North Dakotan's Against Measure 3

While we are gearing up for a fun-filled primary election on June 5, across the border in North Dakota, they plan to vote on sincerely held religious beliefs.

I try to keep an eye on ballot measures in other states, because there’s always a chance we’ll see them end up in South Dakota. And you know how we love our ballot measures!

North Dakota will vote on June 12 on four different ballot initiatives including Measure 3 which aims to change the ND State Constitution. The North Dakota Family Alliance and the ND Catholic
Conference are supporting the measure that they claim will protect against discriminations against sincerely held religious beliefs.

The Team Roe Times March Issue!

We are excited to present to you the third issue of The Team Roe Times in 2012, a joint project between Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and NARAL Pro Choice South Dakota!

Packed inside this fabulous issue is a book review of "Any Mother's Daughter" about the HPV vaccine, a summary of the South Dakota Legislature, the Blunt Amendment vote, the debut of "Women Vote 2012", an introduction to our new intern, AND SO MUCH MORE! Please enjoy and share widely.

Download The Team Roe Times Vol 2 Issue 3

They’re BAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKKK!

Yesterday was the day we’d all been waiting for, and the SD State Legislature did not disappoint. Introduced by Representatives Hunt, Brunner, Cronin, Greenfield, Haggar, Hansen (Jon), Hubbel, Jensen, Kloucek, Miller, Nelson (Stace), Olson (Betty), Sly, Stricherz, Van Gerpen, and Wick and Senators Kraus, Brown, Heineman, Hunhoff (Jean), Krebs, and Schlekeway is a bill very, very similar to 2011’s HB 1217:

An act to revise certain provisions pertaining to the decision of a pregnant mother considering termination of her relationship with her child by an abortion, to establish certain procedures to insure that such decisions are voluntary, uncoerced, and informed, and to revise certain causes of action for professional negligence relating to performance of an abortion.

You can read the entire bill here. http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2012/Bill.aspx?File=HB1254P.htm

The Team Roe Times September Issue!

We are excited to present to you the FOURTH issue of The Team Roe Times, a joint project between Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and NARAL Pro Choice South Dakota! Packed inside this informative newsletter is the most up-to-date information on the PPMNS v  Rounds 2005 lawsuit, the SDANW lobbyist opportunity, Personhood coming to Mississippi, the latest book in our TTRT Unofficial Book Club and SO MUCH MORE.

Download Team Roe Vol 1 Issue 4

Planned Parenthood wins a major victory in battle against South Dakota abortion law

Planned Parenthood won a major victory today in its ongoing court battle against South Dakota’s so-called “informed consent” law, which seeks to compel doctors to deliver ideological and medically inaccurate statements to their patients.

The South Dakota law – H.B. 1166, which was enacted in 2005 and challenged in court by Planned Parenthood – requires a doctor to tell a woman who is seeking an abortion that she faces an “increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide.”

“As the major medical organizations have found, and as the court agreed today, the scientific and medical evidence shows that women who choose abortion are not at increased risk for mental health problems,” said Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. “This law just one of many reprehensible barriers that South Dakota lawmakers have attempted to place between women and their access to safe, legal, reproductive health care.” 

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals further clarified that a provision in the law that requires doctors to tell a woman that she has a relationship with the fetus and that relationship is legally protected simply requires doctors to explain “that the woman seeking abortion is legally and constitutionally protected against being forced to have an abortion.” 

“Planned Parenthood has always stood for the right of women to make these decisions, and we are gratified by this result,” said Sarah Stoesz. “South Dakota voters twice have said at the polls that they do not want politicians interfering with these decisions, and we will continue to honor and defend their wishes.”

CONTACT: Sarah T. Williams, 612-821-6183

 

South Dakota declines to appeal preliminary injunction of abortion law

The South Dakota attorney general’s office announced today that it would not seek to appeal a judge’s decision to grant temporary relief from H.B. 1217, a law that requires a woman who is seeking an abortion to wait at least 72 hours after first meeting with her doctor and to first prove that she has received “counseling” from a so-called “pregnancy help center,” which is not required to be medically licensed, accredited, or regulated by the state under the law.

The law goes farther than any in the country in attempting to impose restrictions on access to abortion care.

“On behalf of our patients, we are twice relieved,” said Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. “We stand with them in our efforts to ultimately overturn this outrageous and demeaning law.”

Judge awards temporary block on abortion law in North Dakota

The Center for Reproductive Rights was awarded a temporary injunction against an extreme anti choice North Dakota law. The law, which would effectively ban medication abortions in the state, was slated to go into effect on August 1^st. Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights stated "This law has nothing to do with protecting women's health—it defies reason, science and medical expertise in a clandestine attempt to limit women's access to abortion." A hearing is scheduled for August 29^th. Read local and national media on the topic.

~Amy, Public Affairs Manager, Planned Parenthood Advocate

The Team Roe Times Volume 1 Issue 2

We are excited to present to you the second issue of The Team Roe Times, a joint project between Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and NARAL Pro Choice South Dakota! Packed inside this informative newsletter is the most up-to-date information on the HB 1217 injunction, details on the Netroots experience, our TTRT Unofficial Book Club and SO MUCH MORE. Download now!

Download The Team Roe Times Vol 1 Issue 2

Victory for the Women and Families in South Dakota

House Bill 1217 was dropped in the SD Legislature on January 31 during our annual Women 4 Women Lobby Day. It was a long, uphill battle to watch the bill go through two committees, both the floor of the House and Senate and the even longer wait for the Governor to sign in into law on March 22. In May, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU filed for the injunction. June 27 was the hearing in Sioux Falls. And then yesterday, finally, Judge Schreier issued her ruling, blocking HB 1217 from going into effect. Planned Parenthood calls this a decisive victory for and the women and families of South Dakota.

As written, H.B. 1217 requires a woman who is seeking an abortion to wait at least 72 hours after first meeting with her doctor, the longest and most extreme mandatory delay in the country. In the interim, the woman is required to seek “counseling” at a so-called “pregnancy help center” whose mandate it is to dissuade her from her decision to seek an abortion.  The law was to have taken effect July 1. In granting temporary relief from the law, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Karen Schreier found that Planned Parenthood is likely to prevail on its challenge to each of the requirements of the law, including the 72-hour mandatory delay and the “pregnancy help center” requirement. 

In finding that the “pregnancy help center” requirement is likely unconstitutional, the Court said:

“Forcing a woman to divulge to a stranger at a pregnancy help center the fact that she has chosen to undergo an abortion humiliates and degrades her as a human being. The woman will feel degraded by the compulsive nature of the Pregnancy Help Center requirements, which suggest that she has made the ‘wrong’ decision, has not really ‘thought’ about her decision to undergo an abortion, or is ‘not intelligent enough’ to make the decision with the advice of a physician.  Furthermore, these women are forced into a hostile environment.”

This is exactly what opponents of this law have been saying about crisis pregnancy centers since day one.

Sarah Stoesz, President and CEO of PPMNS said of the decision,

“Time after time, South Dakota voters have sent the clear message to their lawmakers that politicians should not interfere with personal medical decisions. And time after time, politicians have ignored the voters. It’s time that someone brought a stop to these costly, intrusive, burdensome and divisive measures. Women and families know their circumstances best, and they need to be able to make personal medical decisions, often very difficult ones, without the government intruding.”

This is only the beginning of what will most likely be a long and costly legal battle between Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and the state of South Dakota. It is important to mention that the war has yet to be won. But for the time being, the women and families of South Dakota were the winners in the battle.

~ Carmen, Public Affairs Manager, Planned Parenthood Advocate.

BREAKING: Court Blocks South Dakota ‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’ Abortion Law

In a decisive victory for Planned Parenthood and the women and families of South Dakota, a federal court today blocked a state law from going into effect that would have gone further than any in the country in restricting access to abortion and intruding on women’s personal medical decisions.

 “This law represents a blatant intrusion by politicians into difficult decisions women and families sometimes need to make,” said Sarah Stoesz, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. “We trust women and families in South Dakota to know and do what is best for them, without being coerced by the government. And we stand with them in our efforts to overturn this outrageous law.”