South Dakota Legislature Readies Challenge to Roe v. Wade

South Dakota's state legislature has passed a new law banning most abortions. The measure is designed to provide a test case that could eventually overturn the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

The South Dakota Senate passed the bill by a 23-12 vote on February 22. The measure now goes back to the House of Representatives, where a similar bill was already approved. Governor Mike Rounds has said that he would "look favorably" on the bill.

If it is signed into law, the South Dakota law will be challenged immediately by Planned Parenthood, which operates the only abortion clinic in the state. That legal challenge could force the Supreme Court to reconsider the Roe decision.

The South Dakota legislation is based on a finding that human life begins at conception, and the unborn child therefore deserves government protection. The bill stipulates that while the Supreme Court professed not to know when human life begins in its Roe decision, scientific research has made the answer to that question increasingly clear.