South Dakota Activists Say Abortion Measure Has Enough Signatures to Qualify for November Ballot

Pro-abortion activists said their proposed amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in the South Dakota constitution has enough signatures to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

Dakotans for Health, the group leading the ballot effort, told NBC News it has collected more than 55,000 signatures from registered voters ahead of the May 7 deadline, which is more than the 35,000 required to appear on the ballot. The group said it had acquired 50,000 signatures by December of 2023. 

The proposed constitutional amendment would allow abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, and would only allow the state to regulate abortion in the second trimester in ways related to the physical health of the pregnant woman. The amendment would allow abortion to be regulated or prohibited in the third trimester, except when necessary to preserve “the life or health” of the mother.

Abortion is currently outlawed in the state, except to “preserve the life of the pregnant female.” If the measure appears on the ballot and is passed by a simple majority, it would override the state’s current law. 

“[The measure] will restore women’s personal freedom and overturn South Dakota’s blanket abortion ban by writing into our constitution the protections contained in the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision,” Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland said. 

“The Freedom Amendment is about empowering individuals to make deeply personal decisions about their own bodies and futures,” Weiland said. “Every woman deserves the freedom to choose whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy.”

Pro-life activists have been, and plan to continue challenging the abortion effort, according to the report. 

“And even if the measure does ultimately reach the ballot in November, it’s no guarantee it will pass in the conservative state, which Donald Trump won by 26 points in the 2020 election,” the report continues. 

South Dakota is one of nearly a dozen states where pro-abortion activists are working to codify the right to kill the unborn.