SD Democratic lawmakers forgo abortion exception legislation as ballot measure brews

Reproductive freedom failed on the South Dakota ballot last November as "too extreme."  

We remained a "trigger state" where abortions were banned as soon as the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs.

But as Joshua Haiar reports for the South Dakota Searchlight, another ballot measure may be on a slow burner.

From the South Dakota Searchlight.

SD Democratic lawmakers forgo abortion exception legislation as ballot measure brews
by Joshua Haiar

South Dakota Democratic lawmakers say they’re not proposing abortion-ban exceptions during this year’s legislative session due to a lack of necessary support from Republicans, but a Democratic former lawmaker hopes to put an abortion measure on the ballot again next year.

“I just don’t think there is an appetite for any pro-abortion or pro-women’s rights bills, unfortunately,” said House Minority Leader Erin Healy, D-Sioux Falls. “I think that’s really unfortunate, because we do know that the language needs to be cleaned up, but the reality is that kind of bill would not pass in this body.”

South Dakota law allows abortions only when necessary to preserve the life of the mother. The law does not define a life-threatening condition, although the state Department of Health made a Legislature-mandated video last year attempting to clarify it.

The ban is a trigger law passed in 2005 that went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Opponents of the ban tried to restore abortion rights with a ballot question in November, but 59% of voters rejected it. 

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 a mother’s health and for instances of rape and incest — but said Amendment G was “too extreme.”

Dakotans for Health was the group that supported Amendment G. Chairman Rick Weiland issued a statement after the election calling attention to the exception allusions in the anti-Amendment G advertisements, and calling on anti-abortion lawmakers to introduce exception legislation.

“This is no small task, but it’s one they’ve committed to,” Weiland said. “Now, it’s their responsibility to keep it.”

But no such legislation has been forthcoming in the Legislature, where there are 96 Republicans and nine Democrats.

Nancy Turbak Berry is an attorney and Democratic former legislator from Watertown who campaigned for the 2024 ballot question. She and Erinn Williams, of Sioux Falls, who also campaigned for last year’s ballot question, are in the early stages of organizing a ballot measure campaign for 2026.

“The Legislature refuses to do anything about it — even those Republican legislators who are pro-choice, but refuse to admit that they are,” Turbak Berry said.

Republican lawmakers see support or opposition from anti-abortion activists as making or breaking their primary campaigns, she added.

The language of the 2026 ballot measure is still in the works, Turbak Berry said, but the goal is to create some level of access to abortion. She said the coalition is looking at measures passed in other conservative states.

The deadline for submitting signed petitions to place a constitutional amendment or initiated law on the ballot is May 5, 2026. Constitutional amendment petitions needs signatures from 35,017 registered South Dakota voters, and initiated measures need 17,508.

Photo: Nancy Turbak Berry participates in an election forum at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell on Sept. 19, 2024. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight).

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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• Seven South Dakota ballot measures, $7 million and counting: Reports reveal total spending 
• SD abortion-rights measure opposition gets $500,000 from Leonard Leo's Concord Group 
• Trial for SD abortion ballot measure in limbo as court staff ‘not aware’ of planned start date 
• Coalition of 35 Christian clergy leaders endorse South Dakota reproductive-rights ballot measure
• Update on SD rights: Abortion ballot measure challenge on course for late September trial 
• South Dakota secretary of state now a defendant in Life Defense Fund abortion rights case
• Abortion rights measure likely to appear on South Dakota ballot, but lawsuit could affect election results
• South Dakota State Supreme Court revives legal challenge to abortion-rights ballot measure 
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• Anti-abortion group appeals judge's ruling on abortion rights amendment to SD Supreme Cour
• Reproductive rights update: former South Dakota legislator establishes Republican group to support abortion-rights amendment 
• What's up with the lawsuit against South Dakota’s abortion-rights ballot measure
• Mifepristone ruling digest: SCOTUS rejects attempt to limit access to abortion pill; doesn't change South Dakota’s existing ban
• SD News Watch poll shows South Dakota abortion amendment holds nearly 20-point lead
• South Dakota's Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson runs afoul of anti-abortion groups after labeling their phone calls a ‘scam’
• ACLU, Planned Parenthood North Central States, SD Justice Empowerment Network don’t support ballot measure aiming to restore abortion access 
• At SD Democratic Party reproductive rights rally, Sioux Falls Rep. Duba shares her abortion story
• In South Dakota, where abortion is now outlawed, college students ramp up activism
• SD News Watch:SD women evade abortion ban by accessing medication in neighboring states
• View from the Coteau: a tale of two states in the wake of SCOTUS's Dobbs v. Jackson decision 
•  Abortion poll: Is South Dakota the next Kansas?

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