Abortion

Students from Louisiana prepare to join the 50th annual March for Life rally on Jan. 20, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Anti-abortion groups shrug off election losses, look to courts, statehouses for path forward

BY: - November 25, 2023

Anti-abortion groups are firing off a warning shot for 2024: We’re not going anywhere. Their leaders say they’re undeterred by recent election setbacks and plan to plow ahead on what they’ve done for years, including working through state legislatures, federal agencies, and federal courts to outlaw abortion. And at least one prominent anti-abortion group is […]

The Minnehaha County Administration Building in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

New policy leads to settlement in ballot petitioner rights lawsuit

BY: - November 21, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — Minnehaha County commissioners signed off on a settlement agreement Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of violating the First Amendment rights of people collecting signatures for ballot questions. Dakotans for Health sued the county this spring after the commission passed a policy on May 2 that restricted petitioning to a small […]

South Dakotans sign petitions at Yankton River Boat Days in August. (Courtesy of Dakotans for Health)

2024 ballot question status check: Abortion, open primaries, food sales tax and more

BY: - November 8, 2023

The countdown is on. The 2024 general election is about a year out, and South Dakota’s ballot could be a long one: There are 15 potential ballot questions listed on the Secretary of State’s Office website. One question is already set to be on the ballot. Petitions for about half of the other questions are […]

Packages of Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic on April 13, 2023, in Rockville, Maryland. (Photo illustration by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Legislators in 49 states ask SCOTUS to preserve access to abortion pill

BY: - October 12, 2023

A group of more than 600 Democratic legislators from 49 states have signed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices to overturn an appellate court decision that would roll back access to mifepristone, one of two drugs used to safely terminate early pregnancies and treat miscarriages. The amicus brief, also called […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, May 17, 2023. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

Abortion pill to stay on the market until U.S. Supreme Court ruling after appeals court order

BY: - August 16, 2023

UPDATED 4:15 p.m. Central, 8/16/23 WASHINGTON —  A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday the abortion pill can stay on the market, but it agreed with a lower court that ultimately use should revert to prescribing and dosage instructions that were in place before 2016. That appeals court ruling will immediately be put on hold until […]

U.S. Air Force ceremonial guardsmen from the 28th Bomb Wing present the colors during a change of command ceremony at Ellsworth Air Force Base, June 23, 2023. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Yendi Borjas)

Johnson votes yes on defense bill that targets abortion access, trans health, racial equity

BY: - July 14, 2023

The U.S. House approved Friday an annual defense authorization bill loaded with GOP rollbacks of Pentagon policies on abortion and transgender health care, as well as efforts to boost racial equity. Republican amendments targeting social policy issues turned a typically bipartisan measure preserving the nation’s military security into another front for the culture wars, similar […]

Members of the crowd bow their heads in prayer at the start of the Faith & Freedom Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton on June 23, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Where the GOP presidential candidates stand on national abortion bans, restrictions

BY: - June 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — The 2024 Republican presidential primary marks the first time in half a century that candidates will debate whether abortion should be restricted or banned at the federal level without the Roe v. Wade ruling making most of their proposals moot. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last summer to overturn the nationwide, constitutional right […]

Elevated Access has recruited more than 1,200 volunteer pilots to privately fly those in need of an abortion to states where it is accessible. (Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Echoing history, reliance upon travel rises for abortion care post-Dobbs

BY: - June 21, 2023

When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision one year ago, people of childbearing age in states across the country suddenly faced what seemed like a new prospect — having to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles from home to get an abortion. But historians say it is merely continuing a long tradition […]

Abortion supporters march down Adams Street near the state Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, on Oct. 8, 2022. The march was part of a series of rallies and marches organized by the Women’s March Foundation across the country a month before the November midterms. (Gloria Rebecca Gomez/Arizona Mirror)

After Dobbs, abortion access is harder, comes later and with a higher risk

BY: - June 20, 2023

In April, a Reddit user in Alabama posted a breathless message to the abortion subreddit the morning after learning she was pregnant. She guessed she was early, two or three weeks maybe. “there’s a clinic in GA about 3 hours away. They said they will do it as long as no heartbeat is found on […]

People protest in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. The Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health overturned the landmark 50-year-old Roe v. Wade case and erased a federal right to an abortion. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

A year after Dobbs: Congress takes a back seat on federal abortion policy

BY: - June 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — One year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, the courts rather than a divided Congress are leading the way on decisions on reproductive rights that would affect the entire nation. Congress has not enacted federal legislation to either preserve reproductive rights or to restrict abortion in the […]

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, left, Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, center, and North Carolina Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning at a press conference on contraception access outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

Democrats in Congress renew push to protect access to birth control

BY: - June 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would guarantee access to birth control regardless of any future Supreme Court rulings. The measure would ensure people have the right to use contraception and that health care providers have a right to share information about contraception as well as provide it. The legislation would […]

COMMENTARY
A protester displays a sign at the "Stop Criminalizing Trans Existence" protest in Sioux Falls on Feb. 1, 2020. The protest was in response to bills introduced during the 2020 legislative session. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Bans on abortion and gender-affirming care are attacks on liberty

BY: - June 7, 2023

Across the country, our bodies have become political battlegrounds. Politicians are passing extreme bans on abortion, restricting access to birth control and medication abortion, and keeping transgender people from accessing the care that they need. It’s happening here in South Dakota, too. This past year has been devastating for our right and ability to make […]