The South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion after a "contentious" meeting on Friday approved a final report to the state Legislature that included a call for further restrictions on abortion and a state ban on the procedure in the event that Roe v. Wade -- the 1973 Supreme Court decision that effectively barred state abortion bans -- were overturned, the AP/Aberdeen American News reports (Brokaw, AP/Aberdeen American News, 12/13). The state Legislature approved a measure (HB 1233) in March that established a task force to study abortion and to report its findings to the state Legislature and the governor (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/21). The 17-member panel held public meetings for several months to hear testimony from experts on various scientific, social and ethical aspects related to abortion (Calvitto, Rapid City Journal, 12/14). The 2006 state Legislature can use the 72-page report when it considers whether to change any abortion-related state laws. Several task force members, including abortion-rights advocates, left the meeting on Friday before the final vote, saying the majority had defeated proposals aimed at reducing unplanned pregnancies in South Dakota, according to the AP/American News (AP/Aberdeen American News, 12/13). State Sen. Stan Adelstein (R), one of the panel members who left the discussion, said the walkout could have been prevented "if a minority report had been allowed" (Rapid City Journal, 12/14).

Report Findings, Recommendations
The report says a fetus is a human from the moment of conception and abortion terminates the life of a "unique, whole, living human being," the AP/Aberdeen American News reports. The report also states that the decision to undergo abortion in the state is neither voluntary nor informed because women do not receive enough information about the procedure and are being pressured to make the decision. "The state, the mother and the child all have interests that justify changing the laws of the state of South Dakota to protect the child's life, first and foremost, to protect the mother-child relationship, and to protect the mother's health," the report says, adding, "In fact, the state not only has an interest, it has a duty to change the law." The report recommends that the state take steps to reduce the number of abortions, including:

• Adopting an amendment to the state constitution that gives fetuses the same protections as children;
  


• Requiring physicians to personally ask women if they have been pressured into seeking abortion;
  


• Requiring physicians to verify the identity of the man who impregnated the woman and report illegal sexual activities;
  


• Requiring physicians to tell women about the potential risks of abortion prior to performing the procedure;
  


• Requiring physicians show women undergoing abortion an ultrasound of the fetus prior to the procedure;
  


• Tightening abortion clinic regulations; and
  


• Strengthening laws that require fathers to support women and children (Brokow, AP/Aberdeen American News, 12/12).

Defeated Propositions
Several proposals made by members of the task force who support abortion rights were defeated, including:

• Recommending that the attorney general stop defending South Dakota in a Planned Parenthood Federation of America lawsuit that challenges a 2005 law that would require physicians to tell women that abortion ends human life and could cause psychological problems;
  


• Recommending a ban on abortion except in cases where there is "undue and serious risk to the health or life" of the pregnant woman, where the fetus "would have no medically accepted possibility of surviving birth or early infancy" and in cases of incest or rape;
  


• Recommending a comprehensive sex-education curriculum with a "strong emphasis on abstinence" to help prevent pregnancies; and
  


• Amending the report's statement "It can no longer be doubted that the unborn child from the moment of conception is a whole separate human being" to read "It could no longer be doubted by those of some religious beliefs" (Rapid City Journal, 12/14).

Reaction
Task Force Chair Marty Allison, an abortion-rights opponent who voted against the report, said, "The final report was authored by a few people on the task force, and it is less than completely objective and factual. It is biased and opinionated," adding that the report is "not reflective of all the information we spent so much time gathering." Task force member and state Sen. Brock Greenfield (R) said, "For people to suggest there was no objectivity, that it was a preconceived or predetermined outcome, is a little disingenuous to the process." He added, "Based on the evidence that was presented to the task force, I really felt that the language contained in that report best described what we heard in terms of testimony." Greenfield also said, "Certainly there were two opposing views," but the "final product represented the science behind the technique, the procedure of abortion. It represents the science of life" (AP/Aberdeen American News, 12/13).