South Dakota Amendment G was a proposed constitutional amendment that appeared on the ballot on November 5, 2024. If passed, the amendment would have established a right to abortion in the Constitution of South Dakota up until approximately the beginning of the third trimester of pregnancy. The amendment failed to pass, making it the second referendum about abortion since Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to come out as anti-abortion and preserve the state's ban.
Text That Article VI of the Constitution of the State of South Dakota be amended by adding a NEW SECTION:
Before the end of the first trimester, the State may not regulate a pregnant woman's abortion decision and its effectuation, which must be left to the judgment of the pregnant woman.
After the end of the first trimester and until the end of the second trimester, the State may regulate the pregnant woman's abortion decision and its effectuation only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.
After the end of the second trimester, the State may regulate or prohibit abortion, except when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman.
Background South Dakota's abortion laws
In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens. South Dakota's first ban on abortion was passed in 1877.Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., No. 19-1392, slip op. at 84 (U.S. June 24, 2022). It read:“Every person who administers to any pregnant woman, or who prescribes for any such woman, or advises or procures any such woman to take any medicine, drug or substance, or uses or employs any instrument, or other means whatever with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless the same is necessary to preserve her life, is punishable by imprisonment in the territorial prison not exceeding three years, or in a county jail not exceeding one year.” By 1950, the state legislature had passed a law stating that a woman who had an abortion or actively sought to have an abortion, regardless of whether she went through with it, was guilty of a criminal offense. In 1972, the South Dakota Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the state's abortion ban in State v. Munson. Munson was overruled less than a year later due to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade.
In 2005, the South Dakota Legislature enacted a trigger ban on abortion, which would ban abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned. A year later, Governor Mike Rounds signed the Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act, a second total ban on abortion, into law. The law's ultimate goal was for the United States Supreme Court to overrule Roe.South Dakota has banned abortion - is your state next? : Indybay The act was ultimately repealed later that year through a ballot initiative led by Planned Parenthood.
In June 2022, Planned Parenthood announced it would no longer provide abortion services in the state due to the pending decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. This left the state with no abortion provider until the court's decision a week later. After the court's decision in Dobbs, the state's trigger ban went into effect immediately.
Ballot measure submission In 2022, Dakotans for Health, the group sponsoring the initiative, filed the amendment with Steve Barnett, the then-South Dakota Secretary of State. Barnett approved the measure for circulation on September 19, 2022. On May 1, 2024, the group submitted some 55,000 signatures, well over the 35,000 needed to gain ballot access. South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson certified the petition on May 17, 2024.
Campaign Comments by Governor Kristi Noem
Before the organizers submitted the required signatures for the initiative, South Dakota's governor Kristi Noem had garnered controversy for her position on the state's abortion ban. In particular, her defense of the ban's lack of exceptions for rape and incest have been viewed as controversial. In response to a video Donald Trump made regarding his position that the states should decide on abortion access, Noem echoed this sentiment and remarked, "Different states will make different decisions on Life. What voters want in South Dakota might be different than what voters want in California. South Dakota is proud to stand for LIFE and support babies, moms, and families."
Shortly after this post, Noem reaffirmed this belief by saying, "The people will vote and they’ll decide what our state [abortion] law looks like...We get so much arguing and finger pointing. I’d rather that people just go out and have conversations. We, clearly, in the pro-life community, need to win people’s hearts and minds and that starts with loving people and helping mothers in crisis." Noem also recognized that she would not have the last say on abortion access in the state, acknowledging that she "doesn’t get to be a dictator" on the laws.
Gestational limitation South Dakota's current abortion law outlaws all abortions with few exceptions. The proposed amendment's language is based on the trimester framework originally in the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. At the time, fetal viability was generally regarded to occur around 28 weeks gestation.Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. at 160. However, viability is now considered to be closer to around 23–24 weeks. Additionally, the trimester framework in Roe was overturned in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.. As a result, there have been questions and misinformation about the gestational limitations of Amendment G. Opponents of the amendment have argued this would allow abortions until the moment of birth. Similarly, abortion rights groups have argued that the initiative does not go far enough in allowing abortion.
Endorsements
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error Yes No UndecidedEmerson College/Nexstar MediaEmerson College/Nexstar MediaOctober 19–22, 2024825 (LV)± 3.3%45%48%7%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyMason-Dixon Polling & StrategyMay 10–13, 2024500 (RV)± 4.5%53%35%11%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyMason-Dixon Polling & StrategyNovember 27–29, 2023500 (RV)± 4.5%46%44%11%
Results
By county CountyNoYesMarginTotal#%#%#% Aurora1,09177.98%30822.02%78355.97%1,399 Beadle4,54364.93%2,45435.07%2,08929.86%6,997 Bennett66061.97%40538.03%25523.94%1,065 Bon Homme2,20373.63%78926.37%1,41447.26%2,992 Brookings8,04053.72%6,92746.28%1,1137.44%14,967 Brown9,99058.83%6,99041.17%3,00017.67%16,980 Brule1,68169.06%75330.94%92838.13%2,434 Buffalo23150.66%22549.34%61.32%456 Butte3,37867.13%1,65432.87%1,72434.26%5,032 Campbell63376.63%19323.37%44053.27%826 Charles Mix2,62172.54%99227.46%1,62945.09%3,613 Clark1,32973.22%48626.78%84346.45%1,815 Clay2,45343.39%3,20156.61%−748−13.23%5,654 Codington8,45163.17%4,92736.83%3,52426.34%13,378 Corson72664.71%39635.29%33029.41%1,122 Custer3,65861.51%2,28938.49%1,36923.02%5,947 Davison5,93464.99%3,19735.01%2,73729.97%9,131 Day1,81362.28%1,09837.72%71524.56%2,911 Deuel1,61170.66%66929.34%94241.32%2,280 Dewey91349.54%93050.46%−17−0.92%1,843 Douglas1,44287.29%21012.71%1,23274.58%1,652 Edmunds1,58177.61%45622.39%1,12555.23%2,037 Fall River2,74464.66%1,50035.34%1,24429.31%4,244 Faulk91480.67%21919.33%69561.34%1,133 Grant2,56370.88%1,05329.12%1,51041.76%3,616 Gregory1,72876.87%52023.13%1,20853.74%2,248 Haakon95084.67%17215.33%77869.34%1,122 Hamlin2,47476.76%74923.24%1,72553.52%3,223 Hand1,33875.98%42324.02%91551.96%1,761 Hanson1,51474.91%50725.09%1,00749.83%2,021 Harding66682.32%14317.68%52364.65%809 Hughes4,91257.75%3,59342.25%1,31915.51%8,505 Hutchinson2,93778.76%79221.24%2,14557.52%3,729 Hyde52274.89%17525.11%34749.78%697 Jackson76668.58%35131.42%41537.15%1,117 Jerauld67868.28%31531.72%36336.56%993 Jones43278.12%12121.88%31156.24%553 Kingsbury1,90668.02%89631.98%1,01036.05%2,802 Lake3,64461.79%2,25338.21%1,39123.59%5,897 Lawrence8,18753.56%7,10046.44%1,0877.11%15,287 Lincoln20,54956.50%15,82343.50%4,72612.99%36,372 Lyman96266.71%48033.29%48233.43%1,442 Marshall1,27860.40%83839.60%44020.79%2,116 McCook2,20772.27%84727.73%1,36044.53%3,054 McPherson1,03480.28%25419.72%78060.56%1,288 Meade9,19262.86%5.43037.14%3,76225.73%14,622 Mellette44360.03%29539.97%14820.05%738 Miner82772.04%32127.96%50644.08%1,148 Minnehaha47,92051.23%45,62748.77%2,2932.45%93,547 Moody2,01562.83%1,19237.17%82325.66%3,207 Oglala Lakota98032.67%2,02067.33%−1,040−34.67%3,000 Pennington29,69652.94%26,40047.06%3,2965.88%56,096 Perkins1,24078.09%34821.91%89256.17%1,588 Potter97375.37%31824.63%65550.74%1,291 Roberts2,43159.29%1,66940.71%76218.59%4,100 Sanborn86071.07%35028.93%51042.15%1,210 Spink2,08166.74%1,03733.26%1,04433.48%3,118 Stanley1,09062.93%64237.07%44825.87%1,732 Sully67474.48%23125.52%44348.95%905 Todd81038.39%1,30061.61%−490−23.22%2,110 Tripp2,02475.86%64424.14%1,38051.72%2,668 Turner3,21070.69%1,33129.31%1,87941.38%4,541 Union5,15858.77%3,61941.23%1,53917.53%8,777 Walworth1,78773.72%63726.28%1,15047.44%2,424 Yankton6,41559.51%4,36440.49%2,05119.03%10,779 Ziebach42353.95%36146.05%627.91%784Totals250,13658.59%176,80941.41%73,32717.17%426,945
See also Abortion in South Dakota 2022 Kansas abortion referendum 2022 California Proposition 1 2022 Michigan Proposal 3 2022 Vermont Proposal 5 November 2023 Ohio Issue 1 2024 Arizona Proposition 139 2024 Colorado Amendment 79 2024 Florida Amendment 4 2024 Maryland Question 1 2024 Missouri Amendment 3 2024 Montana Initiative 128 2024 Nebraska Initiative 439 2024 Nevada Question 6 2024 New York Proposal 1 2024 South Dakota Amendment H 2024 United States ballot measures
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