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South Dakota Law Requiring Telling Women Truth About Abortion Upheld by Federal Court
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 3, 2008
Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- Last week, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a South Dakota statute requiring abortion practitioners to tell women the truth about abortion. The measure specifically tells them to tell women "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," defined as a human being.
It also requires that the abortion practitioner give women the contact information of a local pregnancy center, as well other information about her health risks and pregnancy support available.
The Court vacated a temporary injunction which had been issued by the lower court in regards to a 2005 South Dakota informed consent law on abortion.
The federal appeals court cited the portion of the Supreme Court's recent Gonzales v. Carhart decision on partial-birth abortion referring to the post-abortion problems women experience.
The court indicated "some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained. Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow.”
Tracy Reynolds, of Operation Outcry, tells LifeNews.com this is an excellent development because the understanding of the medical, mental health and spiritual problems women face after an abortion is gaining a legal foothold.
She says post-abortion women “are extremely pleased that courts are now listening to real women who have been hurt by abortion and beginning to protect women from abortionists, rather than listening only to Planned Parenthood.”
“This citation of post-abortive women's pain by the courts demonstrates again that the voices of the women of Operation Outcry are beginning to have a deep and long lasting impact on the courts of the United States,” she added.
Meanwhile, Melinda Delahoyde, the president of Care Net, the national network of pregnancy centers, applauded the Planned Parenthood v. Rounds decision as well.
In the interest of women's health, two of Care Net's South Dakota pregnancy center affiliates joined the case.
Delahoyde told LifeNews.com the decision “affirms the work of pregnancy centers that for years have been providing critical information to women considering abortion.”
She said the decision “sends a clarion call to abortion providers that providing such information to women is straight-forward, truthful, and relevant to her pregnancy decision, and if withheld, deprives her of life-saving information.”
