Planned Parenthood Wins a Major Victory in Battle Against South Dakota Abortion Law

Planned Parenthood won a major victory today in its ongoing court battle against South Dakota’s so-called “informed consent” law, which seeks to compel doctors to deliver ideological and medically inaccurate statements to their patients.

The South Dakota law – H.B. 1166, which was enacted in 2005 and challenged in court by Planned Parenthood – requires a doctor to tell a woman who is seeking an abortion that she faces an “increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide.”

“As the major medical organizations have found, and as the court agreed today, the scientific and medical evidence shows that women who choose abortion are not at increased risk for mental health problems,” said Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota. “This law is just one of many reprehensible barriers that South Dakota lawmakers have attempted to place between women and their access to safe, legal, reproductive health care.”

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals further clarified that a provision in the law that requires doctors to tell a woman that she has a relationship with the fetus and that relationship is legally protected simply requires doctors to explain “that the woman seeking abortion is legally and constitutionally protected against being forced to have an abortion.”

“Planned Parenthood has always stood for the right of women to make these decisions, and we are gratified by this result,” said Sarah Stoesz. “South Dakota voters twice have said at the polls that they do not want politicians interfering with these decisions, and we will continue to honor and defend their wishes.”

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Since 1928, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota has been the region’s leading provider and advocate for outstanding women’s and reproductive health care and education.  Planned Parenthood operates 26 clinics in Minnesota and South Dakota and an Online Health Center, providing quality and affordable services and education to nearly 64,000 women and men each year.