Majority Of South Dakotans Against State Abortion Ban, Poll Says

The majority of South Dakotans disapprove of a state law (HB 1215) that bans abortion except to save a woman's life, according to a KELO-TV/Sioux Falls Argus Leader poll released Monday, the AP/Washington Post reports (AP/Washington Post, 7/31). The ban, which has not yet taken effect, will be on the statewide ballot in November. If approved, the law would take effect and then likely would be challenged in court (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/25). The poll, which was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, surveyed 800 registered voters from July 24 through July 26, finding that 47% said they disapprove of the law, compared with 39% who approve of the measure and 14% who are undecided. The poll also finds that all of the people surveyed said they likely will vote in the election in November. In addition, the poll finds that if the measure were to allow for exceptions in cases of rape and incest, 59% of people would have supported it, compared with 29% who would have opposed it and 12% who would have been undecided. The margin of error in the poll was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon, told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, "It looks like that there's no exception made for rape and incest seems to be the factor that could sink this." He added, "That's the hook the opponents [of the measure] can really build their arguments on" (AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan, 8/1).

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