Scripps News and Decision Desk HQ project South Dakota will not enshrine abortion protections in its state constitution.
South Dakota’s Amendment G asked voters whether to include a right to abortion in the state constitution and would have forbidden the state from regulating pregnancies until after the first trimester.
Under the amendment, the state would only have been able to pass laws regulating abortion during the second trimester “in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman.” The state would have been able to regulate abortion during the third trimester, but there would have been exceptions for the health and life of the mother.
South Dakota currently bans abortion except when it would save the life of the mother. A trigger law in the state took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade protections. With the failure of Amendment G, that law will remain in force.
