South Dakota Governor Signs Longest Waiting Period in Nation into Law
On Tuesday, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a bill into law that would impose the nation’s longest waiting period on women seeking abortion care, and force women in South Dakota to visit an anti-abortion pregnancy center before obtaining care.
Requiring a woman to wait 72 hours before she can obtain an abortion is burdensome and disrespects women’s ability to make informed choices. This type of waiting period would make it difficult for women even in urban areas like Washington, DC to obtain the abortion care they need. For women in South Dakota, where abortion care is only available a handful of days each month at a single provider, this waiting period could be extremely burdensome and result in women having to delay care or incur extra expenses they may not be able to afford to travel out of state.
Additionally, this law would require women to visit a crisis pregnancy center (CPC). These centers have a long history of intentionally misleading women and giving them medically inaccurate information to dissuade them from obtaining abortion care. Last week, the Argus Leader ran my op-ed opposing this bill, which details the deceptive and harmful tactics employed by CPCs in furtherance of their mission to prevent women from obtaining abortions.
This law is a blatant attempt to restrict women’s access to abortion care, and we expect it to be legally challenged at the state level.