Proponent Arguments

Politicians in Pierre have decreed that South Dakota women and girls who are raped must carry to term, thrown miscarriage care into utter confusion, and limited available treatment of extreme pregnancy complications. They need to butt out.
Let women and families live their lives. Let doctors and nurses practice their professions. Let freedom ring. That is what Amendment G will do.

Americans fought for freedom nearly 250 years ago and have been defending it ever since. No one values freedom more than South Dakotans. But two years ago, freedoms of women across America were lost when the right to abortion health care that had existed for 50 years was suddenly taken away by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Amendment G, the “Freedom Amendment,” would restore those rights here. Amendment G simply writes into our state Constitution the limited reproductive freedoms for women that until 2022 were recognized in the U.S. Constitution. Wording of Amendment G intentionally mirrors the wording of Roe v. Wade, the decision that had guaranteed women those freedoms.

Tune out the radical “right to life” political noise and just read Amendment G itself and the Attorney General’s explanation of it. Both are very short!

Like most Constitutional provisions, Amendment G will occasionally require judicial clarification, every one of which will be made by South Dakota judges. The dire predictions of unthinkable outcomes that opponents claim will occur under Amendment G are deceitful scare tactics that insult South Dakota’s judiciary and defy voters’ common sense. None of their awful scenarios played out in 50 years under Roe v. Wade as interpreted by Federal Courts. To say the same language in Amendment G would be interpreted by South Dakota courts in some radical “pro- abortion” way is absurd. Support Amendment G.

Nancy Turbak Berry, Chair for South Dakotas for the Freedom Amendment

Opponent Arguments

With Constitutional Abortion Amendment G, the devil is in the details. The wording of Amendment G is unclear and vague. So, to clear up the confusion, here’s the truth about what Amendment G would do:

Abortion Amendment G would impose California and New York style abortion laws into our State Constitution. This is not a “moderate” or “middle-of-the-road” proposal.
A yes vote for Amendment G approves late-term abortion even after a baby is viable and can survive outside her mother’s womb. Most people oppose late term abortion up to birth. Amendment G goes too far.

A yes vote for Amendment G takes away parents’ rights to know when their teenage daughter is undergoing an abortion procedure. This means parents wouldn’t even be informed if their teenage daughter was being coerced into having an abortion. Don’t parents deserve the right to know when their daughter is undergoing a risky medical procedure? Amendment G takes parents’ rights away. Because Amendment G was written to benefit the for-profit abortion industry, Amendment G dangerously deregulates the abortion industry. Currently, an abortion can only be done by a licensed doctor in a safe and clean setting. But a yes vote for Amendment G prohibits South Dakota legal protections for the physical and mental health of mothers for most abortions. Abortions can have dangerous and deadly side effects. That’s why numerous South Dakota medical professionals agree: by subjecting women to unsafe, unregulated abortions, Amendment G is dangerous for South Dakota women.

Voting NO on Amendment G prohibits late-term (up to 9 month) abortions.
Voting NO on Amendment G allows loving parents to assist their daughter in a time of need.

Voting NO on Amendment G protects mothers from unsafe, unregulated abortions.
Protect babies and mothers.

Vote NO on Amendment G.

Leslie Unruh, Co-Chair of Life Defense Fund Jon Hansen, Co-Chair of Life Defense Fund