SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Unprecedented South Dakota Law Creates Major Obstacles For Women's Health
State Legislature Approves Law That Creates Barriers To Abortion Care And Endangers Abortion Providers
Mar 02, 2011
PIERRE, SD
PIERRE, SD
The South Dakota legislature today passed a law that would require any woman seeking an abortion to first visit anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)" and report the name of her abortion provider to CPC staff. CPCs are unregulated facilities that are not required to have trained medical personnel counsel women, and are primarily run by private groups that seek to discourage women from having abortions, often by promoting false information. CPCs are also not required to follow standard medical privacy procedures that ensure a patient's medical information is kept confidential. The bill would also require abortion providers to discuss the entire body of research literature related to possible health risks with their patients, even though much of this information may be outdated, irrelevant, false or misleading. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Dakota strongly denounced the law.
The following can be attributed to Robert Doody, ACLU of South Dakota Chapter Director:
"The South Dakota legislature should be ashamed of this demeaning and destructive law. It is bad enough that this law inserts a government mandate into a woman's private medical decision by forcing her to first visit a facility with a blatant agenda. To further require that the woman report the name of her abortion provider to these groups places those who provide badly needed medical services to women in harm's way."
The following can be attributed to Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project:
"This is one of the most shocking laws in a disturbing national trend of attempting to deny basic medical services and humiliate women who seek abortion care. The government has no business intruding on a woman's private and personal health care decisions. The unprecedented and unjust assault on access to abortion care at the federal and state level must stop, and the rights, privacy and safety of women and their medical providers must be protected."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The South Dakota legislature today passed a law that would require any woman seeking an abortion to first visit anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)" and report the name of her abortion provider to CPC staff. CPCs are unregulated facilities that are not required to have trained medical personnel counsel women, and are primarily run by private groups that seek to discourage women from having abortions, often by promoting false information. CPCs are also not required to follow standard medical privacy procedures that ensure a patient's medical information is kept confidential. The bill would also require abortion providers to discuss the entire body of research literature related to possible health risks with their patients, even though much of this information may be outdated, irrelevant, false or misleading. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Dakota strongly denounced the law.
The following can be attributed to Robert Doody, ACLU of South Dakota Chapter Director:
"The South Dakota legislature should be ashamed of this demeaning and destructive law. It is bad enough that this law inserts a government mandate into a woman's private medical decision by forcing her to first visit a facility with a blatant agenda. To further require that the woman report the name of her abortion provider to these groups places those who provide badly needed medical services to women in harm's way."
The following can be attributed to Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project:
"This is one of the most shocking laws in a disturbing national trend of attempting to deny basic medical services and humiliate women who seek abortion care. The government has no business intruding on a woman's private and personal health care decisions. The unprecedented and unjust assault on access to abortion care at the federal and state level must stop, and the rights, privacy and safety of women and their medical providers must be protected."
The South Dakota legislature today passed a law that would require any woman seeking an abortion to first visit anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)" and report the name of her abortion provider to CPC staff. CPCs are unregulated facilities that are not required to have trained medical personnel counsel women, and are primarily run by private groups that seek to discourage women from having abortions, often by promoting false information. CPCs are also not required to follow standard medical privacy procedures that ensure a patient's medical information is kept confidential. The bill would also require abortion providers to discuss the entire body of research literature related to possible health risks with their patients, even though much of this information may be outdated, irrelevant, false or misleading. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Dakota strongly denounced the law.
The following can be attributed to Robert Doody, ACLU of South Dakota Chapter Director:
"The South Dakota legislature should be ashamed of this demeaning and destructive law. It is bad enough that this law inserts a government mandate into a woman's private medical decision by forcing her to first visit a facility with a blatant agenda. To further require that the woman report the name of her abortion provider to these groups places those who provide badly needed medical services to women in harm's way."
The following can be attributed to Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project:
"This is one of the most shocking laws in a disturbing national trend of attempting to deny basic medical services and humiliate women who seek abortion care. The government has no business intruding on a woman's private and personal health care decisions. The unprecedented and unjust assault on access to abortion care at the federal and state level must stop, and the rights, privacy and safety of women and their medical providers must be protected."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.