The Basic-Abortion-Rights Network on Wednesday dropped its plans to sponsor a petition drive that would have put a South Dakota law (HB 1215) that bans abortion in the state except to save a woman's life on a statewide ballot in November, the AP/Aberdeen American News reports (Kafka, AP/Aberdeen American News, 3/15). According to South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson (R), voters can put laws passed by the Legislature on statewide ballots for approval or rejection if 16,728 signatures are collected within 90 days of adjournment of the legislative session when the bill was passed. Nelson said nothing prevents an out-of-state group from launching a petition drive, adding that if the Legislature adjourns on March 20 as expected, the Waukesha, Wis.-based group Basic-Abortion-Rights Network would have until mid-June to submit signatures. Nelson also said that groups could place initiatives for potential state laws on the ballot by obtaining the same number of signatures by May 2 (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/15). According to the AP/American News, Focus: South Dakota, a group that supports abortion rights, had urged the Wisconsin group to back out, saying it wanted the petition drive to be "a totally South Dakota operation." Noah Beck Hahn-Walter, a member of the Wisconsin group who sponsored the petition drive, said, "Our current plan is to just let the people in South Dakota send their petition in." Focus: South Dakota Treasurer Jim Robinson said the group would announce the petition drive once other state abortion-rights advocates pledge their support (AP/Aberdeen American News, 3/15).

State Poll
In related news, a majority of South Dakota residents opposes the state's abortion law, scheduled to go into effect on July 1, according to a poll released by Focus: South Dakota, the AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan reports. The poll, which was conducted by the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based firm Robinson & Muenster Associates last week, randomly surveyed 630 voters by telephone. According to the poll, 62% of participants said the law is too extreme, 33% support the law and the remaining participants were undecided. The poll also finds that 72% of participants said the law should be decided by voters, with 57% saying they would vote against the law and 36% saying they would vote to keep the law. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points (Kafka, AP/Yankton Press & Dakotan, 3/16).

Chicago Tribune Examines South Dakota Clinic
In related news, the Chicago Tribune on Thursday examined South Dakota's only abortion clinic, which is in Sioux Falls and run by Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. According to the Tribune, four doctors rotate and are flown in from Minneapolis to perform abortions one day, sometimes two, weekly at the clinic. The clinic might close if the South Dakota ban takes effect July 1, meaning patients would have to travel to clinics as far away as Minnesota, Iowa or Colorado to access services, the Tribune reports (Peres, Chicago Tribune, 3/16).

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Thursday reported on the potential petition. The segment includes comments from Robert Burns, political science professor at South Dakota State University; Jim Robinson, an abortion-rights supporter; and Leslie Unruh, president of Abstinence Clearinghouse, which opposes abortion rights (Sailor, "Morning Edition," NPR, 3/16). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.