Activists in South Dakota have succeeded in gathering enough signatures to hold a referendum in November on the state’s extreme abortion ban, South Dakota’s secretary of state announced yesterday. Signed into law in March by Governor Mike Rounds (R), the ban has only an exception to save the life of a pregnant woman and does not provide exceptions in cases of incest or rape.
The success of the petition means the abortion ban will not go into effect on July 1 as previously scheduled but will be put on hold until the November referendum in order to give voters a chance to repeal the law. The South Dakota Campaign for Health Families, a coalition opposed to the ban, had to collect 16,728 verified signatures by June 19 – they filed a petition on May 30 with over 38,000 signatures.
