SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A new group of doctors will join the effort to pass a ballot measure that would reinstate abortion rights in South Dakota.
“Hopefully we can inject some reality into what I’m sure will be a little bit of a contentious, very rhetoric-filled issue,” said Amy Kelley, a Sioux Falls OB-GYN and co-chair of the group.
Abortions are currently banned in South Dakota, except to “preserve the life of the pregnant female.” The ballot measure would legalize abortions in the first trimester of pregnancy but allow the state to impose limited regulations in the second trimester and a ban in the third trimester, with exceptions for the life and health of the mother.
The new group is called Doctors for Freedom. It was introduced during an online press conference Tuesday hosted by the Freedom Amendment Coalition, which was also formed to support the ballot measure. This coalition comes just weeks after another coalition was formed calling itself Republicans for Freedom Amendment G, a group of Republicans seeking to support Amendment G.
“I think talking about what we have seen as health care providers and what our patients have gone through, and the reality of reproductive care, is really important,” Kelley said. “People who don’t work in our field, they don’t always understand. They don’t understand that abortion care is really integral to what we do as OB-GYNs, even if we’ve never worked in a Planned Parenthood.”
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Planned Parenthood was formerly the sole abortion provider operating in the state. The group ended its abortion services in South Dakota in 2022, in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned federal constitutional abortion rights.
Doctors for Freedom Co-Chair and Rapid City OB-GYN Marvin Buehner said during Tuesday’s press conference that he has dealt with many complicated pregnancies for which abortion was a necessary option.
“But we can’t offer that here,” he said. “And several times in the last month I’ve had to tell patients that, ‘In other states, this is the conversation we’d be having, but I can’t offer you that here, and if you think that’s best for your care, then we’ll have to arrange transfer to another state.’”
South Dakota voters will consider an abortion-rights ballot question on Nov. 5, pending litigation from an anti-abortion group seeking to disqualify the measure from the ballot. A judge dismissed the lawsuit earlier this month, but that decision has been appealed to the state Supreme Court.
The anti-abortion group, Life Defense Fund, responded to Tuesday’s news with a statement from co-chair Leslee Unruh.
“I expect more from any doctor,” Unruh said in part, adding, “I’ve been working over 40 years to help women with abortion recovery — so it’s absolutely pathetic that this is what pro-abortionists are pushing for.”
