Noem unveils abortion ban, mimics Texas’ private enforcement
Associated Press— South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Friday unveiled a proposal to ban nearly all abortions, mimicking a Texas law that leaves enforcement up to private citizens through lawsuits instead of through prosecutors and criminal charges. The law would prohibit abortions once medical professionals can detect fetal cardiac activity, which is usually around the sixth week and is before some women even know they’re pregnant. Noem doesn’t seem to care about our constitutional rights.” South Dakota has just one clinic that regularly offers abortions, but Noem’s proposed restrictions, which also include one of the nation’s strictest limitations on access to abortion pills, would wipe out nearly all abortion access in the state. Just 10 women in South Dakota received an abortion during their first six weeks of pregnancy in 2020, the most recent year for which data was available from the state’s Department of Health.