Pro-Life Group Sues To Strip Abortion Amendment Off Red State Ballot

A pro-life group in South Dakota filed a lawsuit to block an amendment enshrining abortion in the state constitution from appearing on the November ballot, alleging the initiative contained fraudulent signatures.

South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson approved the measure in May after it received over the required number of signatures from supporters. Life Defense Fund filed a complaint on Thursday alleging a number of issues, including that Dakotans for Health, which sponsored the amendment, did not file an affidavit confirming petition circulators’ residency and that petitioners misled supporters about what they were signing, according to the court document obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“This is the most important issue. We knew we wanted to do everything we could to defend those lives,” Jon Hansen, co-chair of Life Defense Fund, told the DCNF.

The amendment would ban any restrictions on abortion in the first trimester, according to the final attorney general’s statement. It would allow the state to have some regulation over abortion in the second trimester so long that it is “reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman,” and allow abortion to be prohibited in the third trimester unless the life of the mother is at risk.

Dakotans for Health was required to receive at least 35,017 signatures from supporters, and they submitted around 55,000, according to a press release. Johnson’s office noted in the approval announcement that 84.92% were deemed valid, basing it on a random sample.

Performing an abortion in South Dakota is considered a Class 6 felony, unless it is done to save the mother’s life, the legislature’s website reads.

Other states will have abortion amendments on their November ballots, including Florida and Maryland.

The South Dakota Secretary of State’s office and Dakotans for Health did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.