South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard (Republican) signed an
informed consent bill into law last week … making the fourth pro-life law
passed and signed this legislative session. The three other pro-life bills signed into
South Dakota law (1) ban abortions on pain-capable babies, (2) require the
state health department to make its abortion facility inspection records
public, and (3) make the sale of aborted baby parts a felony.
The pro-life governor signed H.B. 1157, “[a]n Act to require
that a doctor provide a woman additional information as a part of informed
consent prior to performing a first trimester abortion.” The law requires that no less than 2-hours
before committing an abortion, the doctor must share certain facts:
- · The abortionist must make sure the woman knows “that the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.”
- · The abortionist must give the woman “a scientifically accurate statement describing the development of the unborn child” at his/her gestational age.
- · The abortionist must also tell the woman the true risks associated with abortion, including “infection, hemorrhage, danger to subsequent pregnancies, and infertility,” as well as the possibility of negative psychological effects, such as depression, distress, and suicide ideation.
- · The abortionist must tell the woman the “accurate rate of deaths due to abortions.”
Key to the new law is that the abortionist must inform the
woman if she is considering a 1st-trimester chemical abortion that even after
taking the first abortifacient pill, her chemical abortion can be reversed.
Medical, or chemical, abortions involve taking 2-pills that
deprive an unborn child of progesterone before expelling the child from the
womb. (Doctors found that they could
save the child by administering progesterone to the mother between the 2-pills.)
Dr. Matthew Harrison says this “Emergency Abortion Pill
Reversal Kit” has saved more than 100-children from abortion.
State Senator Brock Greenfield (R-District 2) explained, “Should
the female decide that she has regrets relative to her decision, we are just
asking that it be very clear [to her] that there is still a very real chance of
a viable pregnancy and birth should she continue the process.”
Rep. Fred Deutsch, who also serves as South Dakota Right to
Life president, told LifeSiteNews, “This
completes the slate of bills South Dakota Right to Life helped develop and
introduce this year. We are four for
four!”
Also by South Dakota law, at least 24-hours before a woman
undergoes an abortion, she must be informed that medical assistance benefits
may be available for prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care, and that “the
father of the unborn child is legally responsible to provide financial support
for her child following birth,” and give the woman the address and phone number
of a pregnancy help center.
The law also provides for a governmental website featuring “fetal
development at various gestational ages,” abortion procedures and risks, and
adoption options.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a national informed
consent bill, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), requiring women to be
notified of the possibility that they may reconsider and save their babies even
after taking the first abortifacient pill.
The bill has never passed the U.S. Senate.
Rev. Dr.
Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
It's taken over 40 years but states are finally starting to protect the most vulnerable citizens. It is so exciting to see the states finally assuming their constitutional role.
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