South Dakota's supreme court revives lawsuit to stop pro-abortion ballot measure

The state’s highest court on Friday reversed a lower court ruling, reviving a lawsuit to remove a pro-abortion ballot measure from the state’s November ballot. The decision allows the lawsuit brought by The Life Defense Fund, a pro-life group, to return to lower courts for a ruling. The fund alleged that the pro-abortion group behind the ballot measure, Dakotans for Health, obtained the required citizen signatures under false pretenses.

What kind of false pretenses? Dakotans for Health collected signatures for a ballot measure to enshrine a woman’s so-called right to an abortion in the state constitution. The same group rallied for signatures for an unrelated ballot measure to remove taxes on groceries. Some South Dakota citizens wrongly believed they were signing the grocery tax measure when it was actually the abortion measure. As a result, the group amassed support for the abortion bill under false pretenses, according to GOP state Rep. Jon Hansen. The state congressman sponsored a bill allowing citizens to remove their signatures from ballot petitions, which Gov. Kristi Noem signed into law in March.

Dakotans for Health broke laws and tricked citizens into signing its abortion petition, Life Defense Fund co-chair Leslee Unruh said in a statement. The signatures to place it on the ballot were illegally gathered and thus the measure should not appear on the ballot, she continued. She added that Friday’s decision sent the case back to the circuit court where Life Defense will prove that Dakotans for Health broke the law when gathering ballot signatures.

Dig deeper: Read the South Dakota Election Guide in WORLD’s Election Center to keep up with all the candidates and measures up for a vote this fall.