Rape, incest and ‘health of the mother’: Abortion reform discussion continues post-election

Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight

If anything could be predicted in Tuesday’s election, it was that Amendment G’s fate would not be the end of abortion discussions in South Dakota.

The measure, written to mirror Roe v. Wade’s trimester approach to abortion regulation, failed with a 59% vote against it, based on unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office.

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to an abortion in 2022, a trigger ban adopted by the South Dakota Legislature in 2005 immediately took effect. The ban has one exception for abortions necessary to “preserve the life of the pregnant female.”

Abortion rights were on the ballot in 10 states Tuesday. South Dakota was one of three states, including Florida and Nebraska, where the measures failed.

But proponents of Amendment G rallied Wednesday with a challenge for anti-abortion advocates and politicians: Keep your promise.

In some advertisements leading up to the election, anti-abortion groups said South Dakota’s laws may need to be changed — a possible reference to the lack of exceptions for the mother’s health and for instances of rape and incest — but emphasized Amendment G was “too extreme.”

Dakotans for Health Chair Rick Weiland issued a statement to fellow abortion-rights activists Wednesday calling attention to that advertising.

“You have forced these politicians to make a promise they can’t back out of,” Weiland wrote. “… This is no small task, but it’s one they’ve committed to. Now, it’s their responsibility to keep it.”

Kenya Majia of Sioux Falls was one of the South Dakotans who voted against the measure but also found fault in the state’s current law.

“There should be something, but I don’t think this is the right amendment,” Mejia told South Dakota Searchlight outside her polling place Tuesday.

Jon Hansen, co-chair of the anti-abortion Life Defense Fund and a Republican state representative from Dell Rapids, said Tuesday night that such discussions will continue in the months and years to come.

“There’s already lots of people talking about what the law should look like,” Hansen said.

Caroline Woods, spokesperson for the Life Defense Fund, also said she expects discussions to continue.

“The creation of Life Defense Fund was to defeat Amendment G, and that mission was accomplished,” Woods said. “Undoubtedly, conversations will continue to take place to determine what laws are best for children, mothers, and fathers in our state.”

Nancy Turbak Berry, who led a coalition supporting Amendment G, doubts there will be any legislative action — largely because in the two years since the abortion ban was triggered, no state lawmakers have introduced a bill to create exceptions for rape and incest. A bill to create an exception for the “health of the mother” failed in 2023.

“They acknowledged late in the campaign they may need to fix some things with the current law,” Turbak Berry said, “but I don’t put much stock in that because I think they’d say anything to defeat the ballot measure.”

Many new Republican lawmakers are headed to Pierre, having defeated incumbents in the June primary by running as conservatives. The makeup of the incoming legislative body, said Democratic Rep. Erin Healy, of Sioux Falls, will make it challenging to “advocate for women’s health and the care they receive, especially in circumstances when a woman’s health is at risk.”

Healy, who supported the amendment, said its failure raises more concerns about broader health care access, including family planning and maternal health care resources.

Sen. Sydney Davis, R-Burbank, said she doesn’t “anticipate a lot of movement” on abortion changes with the incoming legislative body. Davis supported the 2023 bill to amend the state’s ban to include the “health” of the mother and a 2024 bill mandating the state create an informational video interpreting the state’s abortion law and medical interventions.