S.D. Governor Signs Pro-Life Informed Consent Bill, Planned Parenthood to Sue

Planned Parenthood's resistance to informed consent must end

Within minutes of the signing of the Bill the opponents of the fundamental Human Right to Life, enforcers of the current culture of death, and opponents of authentic choice, immediately announced they will file a lawsuit to overturn this law. Planned Parenthood: "Our legal team has determined that this bill is such an egregious violation of the Constitution that we will file suit"

P>PIERRE, SD (Catholic Online) - In 1980, I began the practice of law. I had never argued in a in a Courtroom when I got my first Bar Results. I had taken three bar exams because I lived in a Tri-State area and wanted to be able to practice in all three. That whole summer I had been working on an appeal that the lawyers for whom I clerked had filed which sought to expand the law of informed consent. In effect, the appeal sought to strengthen patient protections and make it a fully informed consent requirement.

I believed deeply in the issue for many reasons. Little did I realize that on the day my first bar results came in the Senior Partner of this law firm would call me into his office and ask me to argue the Appeal before the State Supreme Court the very next week. I was honored, excited and nervous to make my first legal argument at a State Supreme Court.

Fortunately, it was a positive experience on every front, including the fact that we won. All these years later I still remember that first impassioned oral argument. It was all so clear; people have a right to be informed of all of the risks associated in any surgical procedure and to give their fully informed consent. Also, to be made aware of the risks as well as the alternatives to the surgical proceeding in order to make a good choice. It seemed so obvious...right?

On Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota signed House Bill 1217, "An Act to establish certain legislative findings pertaining to the decision of a pregnant mother considering termination of her relationship with her child by an abortion, to establish certain procedures to better insure that such decisions are voluntary, uncoerced, and informed, and to revise certain causes of action for professional negligence relating to performance of an abortion." It is a law in keeping with the recognition of such a right to give an informed consent. However, in this instance, the surgical proceeding involves abortion and in the current culture of death that dangerous major surgery, which also takes the life of a child, is treated differently in many States. Fortunately, it is not treated differently in South Dakota.

The Governor gave no interviews after signing this good Bill into law. However, in a written statement he said "I think everyone agrees with the goal of reducing abortion by encouraging consideration of other alternatives.I hope that women who are considering an abortion will use this three-day period to make good choices." The Law requires a 72 hour period and directs that the pregnant mother will be informed of, and sent to, a registered pregnancy help center where she will be given a full consultation.

The Act notes "there exists in South Dakota a number of pregnancy help centers, as defined in this Act, which have as their central mission providing counseling, education, and other assistance to pregnant mothers to help them maintain and keep their relationship with their unborn children, and that such counseling, education, and assistance provided by these pregnancy help centers is of significant value to the pregnant mothers in helping to protect their interest in their relationship with their children; and It is a necessary and proper exercise of the state's authority to give precedence to the mother's fundamental interest in her relationship with her child over the irrevocable method of termination of that relationship by induced abortion."

The Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls supported the legislation noting that the law provides the necessary "informed consent that must be given to mothers considering an abortion so that they are protected and not coerced..This additional protection will also help to insure that mothers are as fully aware as possible of the implications and ramifications of the grave decision to terminate the most sacred gift of life." The Act can be read in its entirety here: 

Within minutes of the signing of the Bill the opponents of the fundamental Human Right to Life, enforcers of the current culture of death, and opponents of authentic choice, immediately announced they will file a lawsuit to overturn this law. Numbered among them is Planned Parenthood. They told the local Press before the signing "Our legal team has determined that this bill is such an egregious violation of the Constitution that we will file suit if the governor signs it."

However, before the signing, the Governors policy and communications director told the press they expected that Planned Parenthood, which operates the state's only abortion business, in Sioux Falls, would file such a lawsuit and they were prepared to defend the law.

That Irish Pugilist with words and Defender of the Catholic Faith, Bill Donohue, the President of the Catholic League, released a statement on Wednesday which, as is his manner, cut to the chase and exposed the sophistry:

Statement of Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League

"For the past few years, the pro-abortion community has inexplicably said they support "abortion reduction" efforts (it is not clear why they would want to reduce the rates of a procedure they say is non-lethal). In any event, they should now be supporting what is going on in South Dakota (somehow, we believe they will side with Planned Parenthood, which is filing suit against the state).
 
"Yesterday, the governor signed a law in South Dakota to require women who want an abortion to first learn what assistance is available to them in the event they decide to keep their babies; a waiting period of three days after the initial visit with an abortionist was also approved.

"In a New York Times article today, it notes that this is happening in a state "despite an abortion rate that is among the lowest in the nation." Which made me wonder: Which states have the highest, and the lowest, rates of abortion? Also, what accounts for the disparity? That is why I repaired to the data on these subjects collected by the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood.
 
"The states with the five highest rates of abortion (1-5) are: New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware and Connecticut. Those with the five lowest rates (46-50) are: North Dakota, Nebraska, Kentucky, Utah and South Dakota. None of the five with the highest rates has a waiting period, and none offer written material on the procedure, including fetal development throughout pregnancy.

"All of those with the five lowest rates require a 24-hour waiting period (now 72 in South Dakota), and all offer written material, including information on fetal development through term. Moreover, Utah and South Dakota also offer information on the ability of the baby to experience pain when he or she is being killed.
 
"If the high abortion states are to mimic success, they will have to abandon their policy of keeping women ignorant. If these liberal states are to be truly pro-choice, they will have to start allowing women to make real choices. Their resistance to informed consent must end."

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