SIGNATURES VERIFIED! ABORTION BAN ON THE BALLOT

Press Release from Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

Abortion Ban Vote Imminent in South Dakota

St. Paul, MN –Today, the South Dakota Secretary of State verified that the same group that spearheaded an attempt to ban abortion in 2006 has gathered enough signatures to put an abortion ban on the ballot in South Dakota this November. The proposed law would make it nearly impossible to obtain an abortion in South Dakota.

South Dakota has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country and one of the lowest rates of abortion in the U.S. Planned Parenthood is the only abortion provider in the state of South Dakota, with a clinic in Sioux Falls that serves women from across the state.

“Women must overcome substantial geographic, legal and cultural obstacles to access abortion in South Dakota,” said Sarah Stoesz, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS). In South Dakota, no abortion can be performed without a 24-hour waiting period, mandatory education about the woman's options, parental notification and the review of a sonogram.

“Women are given information about all their options, including adoption, they reflect and consult others whom they trust before they make their decision. If at the end of that process a woman still believes ending a pregnancy is the right decision given her family’s circumstances, the judgment of the state should not trump the judgment of a woman and her family,” Stoesz said.

The 2006 ban was defeated at the polls by a twelve point margin.

The South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, a bipartisan grassroots coalition of farmers, teachers, ranchers, ministers and citizen activists, will work with residents across the state to defeat the initiative.

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For 80 years Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota has worked in our region to make sure all people have the information and the means to make free and responsible decisions about whether and when to have children. Planned Parenthood operates 29 clinics in Minnesota and South Dakota, providing quality and affordable family planning, reproductive health care services and education to more than 60,000 women and men each year.

Visit us on the web at http://www.ppmns.org/