A look at life in South Dakota following the reversal of Roe v. Wade
A rally in Siox Falls opposing the abortion ban in South Dakota.
Cara Hetland | MPR
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Minnesotans who want an abortion can still get one.
But the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, overturning Roe v. Wade, made abortions illegal in neighboring South Dakota. We’re continuing our series looking at abortion rights in neighboring states.
MPR News host Cathy Wurzer was joined by Lee Strubinger, a reporter with South Dakota Public Broadcasting based in Rapid City.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.
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Audio transcript
KATHY WURZER: Minnesotans who want an abortion can still get one. But the supreme court's ruling in June overturning Roe v. Wade made abortions illegal in neighboring South Dakota.
SUBJECT: Governor Noem said quote, "today's decision will save unborn lives in South Dakota, but there is more work to do." She goes on to say that we must do what we can to help mothers in crisis to find resources. The ACLU of South Dakota says this is a shameful ruling by the supreme court. In a statement, the group says quote because of the state's trigger law, South Dakotans now have fewer rights than people in other states in this country.
KATHY WURZER: We're going to continue our series looking at abortion rights in neighboring states. Lee Strubinger is a reporter with South Dakota Public Broadcasting based in Rapid City. He's with us right now. Lee, thanks for joining us.
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah, thanks for having me, Kathy.
KATHY WURZER: For our Minnesota listeners, where does abortion stand legally in South Dakota since Roe fell?
LEE STRUBINGER: So abortion is illegal in South Dakota unless to save the life of the mother. The state legislature in 2005 passed a trigger ban putting that law in place with the caveat that once Roe is overturned, this would go into effect immediately. And so when that decision came down by the supreme court, that's exactly what happened. And so what that looks like is even abortion is illegal for pregnancies that are result of rape or incest.
I have spoken with some who find there is uncertainty as to what appropriate and reasonable medical judgment means, that's the technical language in the law, and they're basically concerned how long must a doctor wait before performing the procedure to save the life of the mother. It's not really clearly defined.
KATHY WURZER: OK, I know you're at protests in Rapid City after the supreme court decision came down, what was that like? What were protesters saying? What was the environment like?
LEE STRUBINGER: I think protesters were, for the most part, really grieving about the loss of that constitutional right. For protests out in Rapid City, we have been hours away from any kind of clinic that offers abortion for some time, and so regardless of that decision, it has taken pregnant people a lot of extra miles and extra hours and extra days to get abortion care, and so that hasn't really changed out here, but it's really that constitutional right that a lot of people were really mourning the loss of, there's a lot of sadness in that.
KATHY WURZER: And we should say that abortion laws in South Dakota have been pretty strict to this point.
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah. So the legislature passed that abortion ban trigger law in 2005 and then almost immediately after that went to work on trying to pass abortion bans through the state legislature. And in South Dakota, we have what's called an initiative and referendum process. Basically, voters in the state, if they don't like a law that lawmakers pass, they can refer it to a vote for the next upcoming election. So in 2006, they did pass that abortion ban regardless of the trigger law and that law got referred and it set up a really, really heated battle over that particular question.
And so voters rejected that abortion ban and basically said we would like to keep abortion legal in South Dakota but with restrictions. And so what the legislature kind of did after that and what a lot of anti-abortion groups did after that was really started chipping away at the state's abortion law and really over regulating the procedure in a way that made it fairly onerous to get the procedure done.
Like an informed consent waiver, there was also a three-day wait periods that were passed as well as required counseling before getting the procedure done. And some of the doctors I've spoken to have said that kind of the informed consent waivers that they were required to present had medically inaccurate information.
KATHY WURZER: I'm wondering about, it's because you mentioned that South Dakota has initiative and referendum, and how are voters generally looking at the issue of abortion? I mean, keeping it legal with certain restrictions, I mean, has polling been done on this?
I would say there's no public polling that has been conducted on this. However, immediately after the supreme court decision was made, Republican Governor Kristi Noem and legislative leaders said, hey we're going to call a special session and the idea was, in their words, to really kind of bolster the state's pro-life policies.
There were there were no actual specific proposals that were announced, but they really wanted to call a special session to take care of any kind of changes in the state's abortion law that needed to be buttoned up in their minds. However, a few weeks after that, there still was no dates that were set for that special session to occur.
Now I say that because if we look at what happened in Kansas, not too long ago where voters there rejected some abilities for the legislature there to enact some abortion restrictions, I think the idea is that there might be some polling out there that says maybe South Dakotans feel a little bit differently about abortion policy. It's hard to really say, but the fact that there was no special session after several calls for that special session to happen, I think it's giving some lawmakers pause.
And now that vote in Kansas seems like fairly significant because least shown back is the republican leader in the senate. He's very Catholic, he's been pro-life for decades in the legislature. He's been an antiabortion force. Worked on the ballot questions that I mentioned about abortion bans in 2006 and in 2008 in the legislature. And he basically said that the Republican-controlled state senate really wants to discern where the public is at on abortion policy.
LEE SCHOENBECK: The public in South Dakota, I don't believe supports late term abortions. I don't believe they do. I think they understand that's killing a kid. But where on the spectrum do you stop? Where does the a majority of the public say at this point we shouldn't have any more abortions beyond this point on that nine-month spectrum.
KATHY WURZER: How did his comments go over?
LEE STRUBINGER: So over the last several years, there has been some tension between both republican supermajorities in the house and in the senate. But there has been some tension between house leadership and senate leadership under the leadership of Lee Schoenbeck, who we just heard from.
And so I think what that tells me is that there's really going to be some kind of infighting between what house lawmakers want and what senate lawmakers want. I think the house is going to take more of a hardliner conservative approach whereas the senate, like you just heard from Schoenbeck, is really going to want to figure out where the public is at on it.
KATHY WURZER: What are the pro-abortion groups doing in South Dakota? Are they going to take any action against state laws? What have they said?
LEE STRUBINGER: I have not heard of any kind of action really that can be taken against or that will be taken against the state's laws right now. Given the breakdown of the supreme court right now, I'm not hearing of any laws that would be taken against the-- lawsuits that would be taken against the state right now.
However, there is an effort to codify Roe versus Wade into our state constitution, which also might be informing Schoenbeck's perspective of trying to discern where the public is at and do this through the legislature as opposed through the initiative and referendum process.
And so that also might be forcing their hand a little bit, but again, they're not even gathering signatures for that at this point. They have to wait until the end of the of the next election. And so we're just sitting in this area where we're really living in the world of this 2005 trigger law and any changes to the state's abortion policy, whether pro-abortion or anti-abortion will really take shape in January.
KATHY WURZER: So with that what the clinic closed in Sioux Falls here Lee, is planned parenthood doing anything else offering contraceptive care or anything like that?
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah, they're continuing to offer that contraceptive care in Sioux Falls. Obviously they cover Minnesota and North Dakota and all those all the north central states there and they've basically reassured South Dakotans that they're beefing up their resources in those areas to deal with an influx of patients seeking abortion care.
And so that's also where we're at this point. I know out west, when it comes to states like Wyoming, there's an abortion clinic that opened up in Casper not too long ago that's been closed and someone set it on fire and those things. But a lot of these near clinics are either Casper, Wyoming; Billings, Montana, which is up in the air; and then essentially down in Colorado.
KATHY WURZER: Clearly there's a lot going on here, and a lot remains to be seen. You've done a really good job explaining what's happening in South Dakota. Thanks so much Lee.
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah, thanks for having me, you bet.
KATHY WURZER: Lee Strubinger is a reporter with South Dakota Public Broadcasting based in Rapid City.
SUBJECT: Governor Noem said quote, "today's decision will save unborn lives in South Dakota, but there is more work to do." She goes on to say that we must do what we can to help mothers in crisis to find resources. The ACLU of South Dakota says this is a shameful ruling by the supreme court. In a statement, the group says quote because of the state's trigger law, South Dakotans now have fewer rights than people in other states in this country.
KATHY WURZER: We're going to continue our series looking at abortion rights in neighboring states. Lee Strubinger is a reporter with South Dakota Public Broadcasting based in Rapid City. He's with us right now. Lee, thanks for joining us.
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah, thanks for having me, Kathy.
KATHY WURZER: For our Minnesota listeners, where does abortion stand legally in South Dakota since Roe fell?
LEE STRUBINGER: So abortion is illegal in South Dakota unless to save the life of the mother. The state legislature in 2005 passed a trigger ban putting that law in place with the caveat that once Roe is overturned, this would go into effect immediately. And so when that decision came down by the supreme court, that's exactly what happened. And so what that looks like is even abortion is illegal for pregnancies that are result of rape or incest.
I have spoken with some who find there is uncertainty as to what appropriate and reasonable medical judgment means, that's the technical language in the law, and they're basically concerned how long must a doctor wait before performing the procedure to save the life of the mother. It's not really clearly defined.
KATHY WURZER: OK, I know you're at protests in Rapid City after the supreme court decision came down, what was that like? What were protesters saying? What was the environment like?
LEE STRUBINGER: I think protesters were, for the most part, really grieving about the loss of that constitutional right. For protests out in Rapid City, we have been hours away from any kind of clinic that offers abortion for some time, and so regardless of that decision, it has taken pregnant people a lot of extra miles and extra hours and extra days to get abortion care, and so that hasn't really changed out here, but it's really that constitutional right that a lot of people were really mourning the loss of, there's a lot of sadness in that.
KATHY WURZER: And we should say that abortion laws in South Dakota have been pretty strict to this point.
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah. So the legislature passed that abortion ban trigger law in 2005 and then almost immediately after that went to work on trying to pass abortion bans through the state legislature. And in South Dakota, we have what's called an initiative and referendum process. Basically, voters in the state, if they don't like a law that lawmakers pass, they can refer it to a vote for the next upcoming election. So in 2006, they did pass that abortion ban regardless of the trigger law and that law got referred and it set up a really, really heated battle over that particular question.
And so voters rejected that abortion ban and basically said we would like to keep abortion legal in South Dakota but with restrictions. And so what the legislature kind of did after that and what a lot of anti-abortion groups did after that was really started chipping away at the state's abortion law and really over regulating the procedure in a way that made it fairly onerous to get the procedure done.
Like an informed consent waiver, there was also a three-day wait periods that were passed as well as required counseling before getting the procedure done. And some of the doctors I've spoken to have said that kind of the informed consent waivers that they were required to present had medically inaccurate information.
KATHY WURZER: I'm wondering about, it's because you mentioned that South Dakota has initiative and referendum, and how are voters generally looking at the issue of abortion? I mean, keeping it legal with certain restrictions, I mean, has polling been done on this?
I would say there's no public polling that has been conducted on this. However, immediately after the supreme court decision was made, Republican Governor Kristi Noem and legislative leaders said, hey we're going to call a special session and the idea was, in their words, to really kind of bolster the state's pro-life policies.
There were there were no actual specific proposals that were announced, but they really wanted to call a special session to take care of any kind of changes in the state's abortion law that needed to be buttoned up in their minds. However, a few weeks after that, there still was no dates that were set for that special session to occur.
Now I say that because if we look at what happened in Kansas, not too long ago where voters there rejected some abilities for the legislature there to enact some abortion restrictions, I think the idea is that there might be some polling out there that says maybe South Dakotans feel a little bit differently about abortion policy. It's hard to really say, but the fact that there was no special session after several calls for that special session to happen, I think it's giving some lawmakers pause.
And now that vote in Kansas seems like fairly significant because least shown back is the republican leader in the senate. He's very Catholic, he's been pro-life for decades in the legislature. He's been an antiabortion force. Worked on the ballot questions that I mentioned about abortion bans in 2006 and in 2008 in the legislature. And he basically said that the Republican-controlled state senate really wants to discern where the public is at on abortion policy.
LEE SCHOENBECK: The public in South Dakota, I don't believe supports late term abortions. I don't believe they do. I think they understand that's killing a kid. But where on the spectrum do you stop? Where does the a majority of the public say at this point we shouldn't have any more abortions beyond this point on that nine-month spectrum.
KATHY WURZER: How did his comments go over?
LEE STRUBINGER: So over the last several years, there has been some tension between both republican supermajorities in the house and in the senate. But there has been some tension between house leadership and senate leadership under the leadership of Lee Schoenbeck, who we just heard from.
And so I think what that tells me is that there's really going to be some kind of infighting between what house lawmakers want and what senate lawmakers want. I think the house is going to take more of a hardliner conservative approach whereas the senate, like you just heard from Schoenbeck, is really going to want to figure out where the public is at on it.
KATHY WURZER: What are the pro-abortion groups doing in South Dakota? Are they going to take any action against state laws? What have they said?
LEE STRUBINGER: I have not heard of any kind of action really that can be taken against or that will be taken against the state's laws right now. Given the breakdown of the supreme court right now, I'm not hearing of any laws that would be taken against the-- lawsuits that would be taken against the state right now.
However, there is an effort to codify Roe versus Wade into our state constitution, which also might be informing Schoenbeck's perspective of trying to discern where the public is at and do this through the legislature as opposed through the initiative and referendum process.
And so that also might be forcing their hand a little bit, but again, they're not even gathering signatures for that at this point. They have to wait until the end of the of the next election. And so we're just sitting in this area where we're really living in the world of this 2005 trigger law and any changes to the state's abortion policy, whether pro-abortion or anti-abortion will really take shape in January.
KATHY WURZER: So with that what the clinic closed in Sioux Falls here Lee, is planned parenthood doing anything else offering contraceptive care or anything like that?
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah, they're continuing to offer that contraceptive care in Sioux Falls. Obviously they cover Minnesota and North Dakota and all those all the north central states there and they've basically reassured South Dakotans that they're beefing up their resources in those areas to deal with an influx of patients seeking abortion care.
And so that's also where we're at this point. I know out west, when it comes to states like Wyoming, there's an abortion clinic that opened up in Casper not too long ago that's been closed and someone set it on fire and those things. But a lot of these near clinics are either Casper, Wyoming; Billings, Montana, which is up in the air; and then essentially down in Colorado.
KATHY WURZER: Clearly there's a lot going on here, and a lot remains to be seen. You've done a really good job explaining what's happening in South Dakota. Thanks so much Lee.
LEE STRUBINGER: Yeah, thanks for having me, you bet.
KATHY WURZER: Lee Strubinger is a reporter with South Dakota Public Broadcasting based in Rapid City.
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