COUNTERPOINT: Decline to sign petition for extreme abortion amendment

Guest column by Rep. Jon Hansen

As part of a national effort, petitions are currently being circulated to amend the South Dakota Constitution to legalize abortion from conception all the way up to and including at birth. This means that the amendment would legalize abortions that are performed at the stages in pregnancy when the unborn child is viable outside of the womb, or even just before or during labor. You read that right: their amendment would even legalize horrific late-term abortions. For most South Dakotans, that’s too extreme. It’s just not us.

Those pushing the abortion amendment petition claim that it would simply “put Roe vs. Wade on the ballot.”  However, even this central assertion of theirs is deceitful.  In reality, the amendment would have far more extreme consequences than Roe vs. Wade itself.

VIEWPOINT: South Dakota GOP should offer voters a vision for the state’s future