Abortion

South Dakota Mandatory 72 Hour Waiting Period On Hold Until Court Rules on Constitutionality

The state attorney general has decided not to appeal the injunction while the case is waiting to be heard in court.

The 72 hour waiting period and mandatory counseling session law passed by South Dakota’s anti-choice legislature last session will continue to remain on hold until the courts can decide if the law itself is unconstitutional or not.

HB 1217, which would require all women who want an abortion to visit a doctor, then wait 72 hours and visit a religious-based crisis pregnancy center to ensure she was not being coerced into a decision to abort before returning to have the procedure done, was supposed to go into effect on July 1st.  Instead, an injunction was placed on the law, which the judge called “humiliating and degrading.

Now, the state attorney general has chosen not to fight the injunction, preferring to wait until the courts rule on the law itself.

The state is already still litigating another unconstitutional abortion law that has been under injunction for years.

Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, released the following statement: “On behalf of our patients, we are twice relieved. We stand with them in our efforts to ultimately overturn this outrageous and demeaning law.”