The Militant - April 11, 2011 -- South Dakota law forces women to get antiabortion ‘counseling’

Vol. 75/No. 14 April 11, 2011

South Dakota law forces women
to get antiabortion ‘counseling’

BY CINDY JAQUITH
A bill was signed into law in South Dakota March 22 that forces a woman to sit through “counseling” at a “pregnancy help center” before she can exercise her legal right to have an abortion. The state government officially registers these “pregnancy help centers,” which are nothing but offices set up by antiabortion forces to intimidate and guilt-bait women who have decided to terminate their pregnancies.

The bill also requires a 72-hour waiting period—the longest in the country—between the time the woman sees a doctor and chooses to have the abortion and day the procedure is actually performed. For women in South Dakota this actually means a week of waiting, since abortion services in the state are provided only one day per week by doctors who fly from Minnesota into South Dakota’s only abortion facility, in Sioux Falls.

In Ohio, the state legislature is considering a bill that directly challenges the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that states may not restrict abortion until the fetus is viable, considered to be 24 weeks. The Ohio bill outlaws abortion once a heartbeat can be detected from the fetus, which can be as early as six weeks.

The number of abortion providers continues to decline, especially in rural areas. In 1976, there were only 10 states where 90 percent or more of the counties had no abortion provider. As of 2005 that was the case in 23 states.

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