South Dakota Senate Committee Rejects Abortion Ban

This morning the South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee rejected an abortion ban by an 8 to 1 vote. This dangerous ban would have prohibited safe abortion procedures with limited exceptions, and was passed by the state House last week.

Despite the committee’s vote, the measure’s main sponsor, Rep. Gordon Howie, said he would still try to bring the bill before the full Senate. Forcing the bill out of committee requires a one-third vote of the full Senate, but members of the State Affairs Committee said they didn’t think there were enough votes in the Senate to take up the bill.

Senators from both political parties opposed this ban. State Affairs Committee member and majority leader Dave Knudson said, “The root issue here is the clear unconstitutionality of this bill.”