Tell South Dakota's Governor To Save Taxpayer Dollars and Veto HB 1217
- by: Robin Marty
- recipient: South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard
South Dakota legislature has passed HB 1217, which requires all women seeking an abortion in the state to first see the doctor who will be performing the procedure, then wait 72 hours and visit a predominately religious-based pregnancy center for counseling before having the abortion done. The three day long minimum waiting period required by the law is the longest in the country, and will greatly increase the costs a woman will incur to have an abortion, including travel, childcare and time from work.
There are already intentions to challenge this bill in court should the governor sign it into law, and the tax payers of South Dakota will be the ones footing the bill. At a time in which government services and support are being drastically cut to save money, should the state spend taxpayer dollars defending an unconstitutional abortion regulation that could spend years in litigation and costs millions of dollars in legal fees?
Tell Governor Daugaard you don't think the taxpayers of South Dakota should have to spend more money defending unconstitutional abortion regulations.
H.B. 1217 will place the longest, most restrictive waiting period ever on women seeking abortions, and will force them to visit predominately religious based pregnancy centers in order to receive counseling and get "permission" prior to an abortion. The law, which is likely to be found unconstitutional in a court challenge, will likely never actually be implemented in the state and will cost taxpayers potentially millions of dollars to defend.
In a tight economy and in the face of massive budget shortfalls and cuts, the last thing that the citizens of South Dakota want to waste money on is defending unconstitutional abortion laws in the courts. Please be fiscally responsible and veto H.B. 1217 so taxpayer dollars will not be wasted on litigation.
Thank you,
