Court Upholds South Dakota's Informed-Consent Law

Religion Today | Updated: Jul 30, 2012

Court Upholds South Dakota's Informed-Consent Law

Despite years of legal attack from Planned Parenthood, South Dakota may continue requiring abortion doctors to inform pregnant mothers that abortion may increase their risk of suicide, WORLD News Service reports. The full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling July 24 means that the last remaining contested provision of the state's informed-consent law, passed in 2005, is constitutional. "A woman's right to make a fully informed choice is more important than Planned Parenthood's bottom line," said Steven H. Aden, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel. "If Planned Parenthood truly cared about the well-being of women, it would not try to prevent them from being informed of the well-documented risk of suicide that accompanies abortion." Planned Parenthood sued South Dakota over the law in 2006, and ADF attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief in 2010 on behalf of several pro-family groups. "The 8th Circuit has done the right thing in upholding a reasonable law that protects the well-being of women by making sure that the truth is not hidden from them," Aden said.



Court Upholds South Dakota's Informed-Consent Law