Praise God, we are seeing significant momentum on key bills that protect life, strengthen parental rights, and uphold truth in our state law. Several important measures have passed the House and are now headed to the Senate—and your voice is needed once again.
Mail-Order Abortion Drugs
HB1274 would restrict the delivery of an abortion-inducing medicine, drug, or substance into this state and provide a criminal and a civil penalty therefor, and provide a civil action for the wrongful death of an unborn child. HB1274 was amended from the original. You can read the amendments here.
Since South Dakota bans abortion, both surgical and chemical, these dangerous and unregulated mail-order abortion pills are coming into our state. The amended bill narrows the scope and purpose by providing our Attorney General with the laws he needs to criminalize the distributors of the abortion pills.
HB1274 passed in the House State Affairs committee on Friday, February 20, with a vote of 10-2-1 and passed in the House 61-5 on Tuesday, February 24. HB1274 now goes to the Senate.
ACTION: Contact your Senator and urge him/her to Vote Yes on HB1274, the mail-order abortion drug. See contact information below.
Clarifying “Life of the Mother”
HB1257 is an Act to regulate the performance and reporting of abortions necessary to preserve the life of a pregnant female and to provide a penalty therefor. Because South Dakota bans abortions except for the life of the mother, the pro-abortion lobby groups are claiming there is confusion when receiving medical care for miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, etc. HB1257, as amended, will make that distinction clear.
HB1257 passed in the House State Affairs Committee on Monday, February 23, and in the House on Tuesday, February 24, with a vote of 60-6. HB1257 will now go to the Senate.
ACTION: Contact your Senator and urge him/her to Vote Yes on HB1257, the life of the mother bill. See contact information below.
Defining Man and Woman in State Law
HB1184 is an Act to define man and woman throughout the state and prohibit funding for anything to the contrary. HB1184 would ensure that definitions of “boy,” “father,” “female,” “girl,” “male,” “man,” “mother,” “sex,” and “woman” would be reflected in our laws. HB1184 passed in the House State Affairs on Friday, February 20, with a vote of 10-2-1. It passed in the House on February 24, 57-9. HB1184 will now go to the Senate.
ACTION: Contact your Senator and urge him/her to Vote Yes on HB1184, the definition of man and woman bill. See contact information below.
Parental Control Over App Store
HB1275 is an Act to create requirements for age verification and parental consent for application stores and to provide a penalty therefor. HB1275 gives parents more control over what apps their children can download and access on their phones and other devices.
HB1275 passed in the House State Affairs committee on Wednesday, February 25, and passed in the House last Friday, February 20, with a vote of 50-17. HB1275 will now go to the Senate.
ACTION: Contact your Senator and urge him/her to Vote Yes on HB1275, the Parental Control over App Store Bill. See contact information below.
Parental Rights
SB190 is an act to codify the rights of parents. A state agency or any political subdivision of this state may not substantially burden the fundamental right of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of the parent’s minor child, without demonstrating that the burden imposed on the parent is required by a compelling governmental interest as applied to the parent and the parent’s minor child and is the least restrictive means for furthering that compelling governmental interest.
SB190 passed in the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday, February 25, with a vote of 8-5. SB190 will be voted on in the House on Monday, March 2.
ACTION: Contact your two Representatives and urge them to support SB190. See contact information below.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
- To find out who your senator or two representatives are, go here. Then, to find out how to contact them, go here.
- When emailing, include your district number in the subject line so they know you are from their district.
- Be sure to let them know that you are a member of Concerned Women for America of South Dakota.The more legislators hear from us as an organization, the greater our influence will be as we lobby legislators at the Capitol.
- Please forward this e-alert to others today and ask them to pray and take action.
PRAYER: Father, we are so grateful for these victories this week. We praise You for stirring the hearts of legislators to do what is right. Bless them for their faithfulness during these last few weeks of the legislative session. Protect them from weariness. Keep their minds sharp and help them to honor You in all their decisions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
