The pro-life movement is battling the abortion lobby on two fronts in South Dakota. Here’s what you need to know:
The first is a campaign fight over Amendment G, which, if passed into law by voters in November, would legalize abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, would deny parents the right to know if their underage daughter is undergoing an abortion procedure, and would remove safety standards currently in place to protect mothers.
We know the campaign fight against Amendment G is winnable for several reasons, due in part to the deep division among pro-abortion factions in South Dakota. Both Planned Parenthood and the ACLU oppose the amendment, sweeping the rug out from under “Dakotans for Health,” the radical group responsible for pushing the amendment forward.
Additionally, the initial polling showed that 45.6% of voters support Amendment G, while 43.6% oppose it. Almost 11% of respondents were undecided. This is good news for the pro-life movement – voters in South Dakota are still deciding how to cast their vote in November, and the percentage of undecided voters will change the course of the election. This campaign battle depends upon the vigilance of the pro-life movement in South Dakota. Victory is in sight.
The second abortion battle is a legal fight – arguing that the measure is not valid because Dakotans for Health (D4H) violated petition laws.
D4H came under fire multiple times in 2023 for shady petition practices. The group was even sent a warning letter from the Attorney General, admonishing the organization for the alleged offenses, and specifying the three major complaints: volunteers leaving petitions unattended, petition signatories being encouraged to sign more than once, and petition circulators providing misleading information and failing to distribute the required circulator handout. All three of these evidenced complaints represent serious violations of South Dakota petition law and make the petition turned in by Dakotans for Health illegitimate.
In May, Life Defense Fund (LDF) filed a lawsuit against D4H challenging the validity of the signatures the group had gathered. A judge attempted to dismiss the case, but the South Dakota Supreme Court overturned the initial dismissal. Following that decision, D4H tried to have the case thrown out, but the same judge who originally tried to dismiss the case denied the motion and pushed the case forward to trial at the end of September.
“D4H will now have to turn over all documents related to their petition circulation efforts of the abortion-up-to-birth constitutional ballot measure, now Amendment G, that LDF has requested at the beginning of this lawsuit,” Life Defense Fund explained in a press release. “The Court also specifically noted that it has the authority to determine whether D4H’s repeated violations of petition law can disqualify them from circulation efforts in the future.”
Because the pro-life movement is fighting this abortion battle on two fronts, there are two opportunities for victory.
If the court finds that petition rules were violated, it should nullify the amendment. Click here to learn more about Amendment G and how it would impact South Dakota if passed into law.
In the meantime, we have to prepare for all contingencies, which means we must reach undecided voters (and even help correct misinformed voters) on what Amendment G means before the election. Please share this blog post with your friends, family, and neighbors, and feel free to save and share the image above which explains the vague language of the amendment.
