PIERRE, S.D. — A South Dakota Senate committee has narrowly rejected a measure that would have criminalized commercial surrogate pregnancy agents, making it unlikely for such a ban to win approval this year.
The Senate Health and Human Services voted down the bill 4-3 Wednesday, after a debate pitting some families who have used surrogates for pregnancy against critics who argue the practice exploits and endangers women and babies.
The proposal would have made acting as a surrogacy agent a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
It would have made South Dakota one of a handful of states to criminalize the practice.
