Federal Appeals Court To Rehear Case Challenging South Dakota Abortion Counseling Law

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Tuesday announced the full court on April 11 will hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging a 2005 South Dakota law (HB 1166) that would require abortion providers in the state to tell women before performing the procedure that it would "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," the AP/Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan reports (Brokaw, AP/Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan, 1/10). The law, which was signed by Gov. Mike Rounds (R) in March 2005 and was scheduled to take effect in July 2005, requires physicians to fully inform women about risks, consequences and alternatives to abortion, such as adoption, at least two hours before performing the procedure. The law also says that women have a relationship with the fetus until birth and that the state has an interest in protecting that relationship. Planned Parenthood of Minnesota-North Dakota-South Dakota in June 2005 filed suit requesting that the law be blocked because it violates doctors' free speech rights by requiring them to provide inaccurate and ideological information to women seeking abortion. U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier in July 2006 issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the regulation and said the state cannot violate abortion providers' First Amendment rights by requiring them to "espouse the state's theology." A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court in October 2006 ruled 2-1 to uphold Schreier's ruling and sent the case back to her for a final opinion (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/31/06). According to the AP/Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan, the state argues that the law would not restrict access to abortion and that the required information is accurate and supported by science (AP/Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan, 1/10).

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