South Dakota Voters Reject the Nation’s Most Restrictive Abortion Ban

This ban would have threatened the lives and health of South Dakota women, and potentially set a dangerous precedent for our country. Today’s vote is a victory not only for women in South Dakota, but for women throughout the nation.

This is the second time South Dakota voters have protected a woman’s right to access abortion care by defeating an abortion ban. In 2006, the South Dakota legislature passed an abortion ban, which Governor Mike Rounds signed into law. Citizens in South Dakota banded together in opposition to the legislation, and gathered enough signatures to defer implementation of the ban pending a statewide referendum. That year, South Dakota voters rejected the abortion ban by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent.

Although abortion opponents proposed another abortion ban this year, the citizens of South Dakota have again voted not to outlaw abortion.

The South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, the organization originally created to fight the abortion ban in 2006, once again played an integral part in the ban’s defeat. NAF also sent staff to South Dakota to help campaign against this dangerous initiative.