In 2004, both houses of the South Dakota legislature passed House Bill 1191, outlawing abortions, but it was vetoed by governor
Mike Rounds due to a technicality. The state's legislature subsequently passed five laws curtailing the legality of abortion in 2005. The majority of a legislative "task force" then issued a report recommending that the Legislature illegalize all abortions, which would lead to a challenge of the constitutionality of
Roe v. Wade in the
United States Supreme Court. A separate minority report criticizing the process and reaching different conclusions was also released. In February 2006, the Legislature passed the ''Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act'', which was signed into law by
Governor Mike Rounds on March 6, 2006. This law would have forbidden
pregnancy termination under virtually every circumstance, including for victims of rape and incest, with the exception of "a medical procedure designed or intended to prevent the death of a pregnant mother". Physicians performing such procedures would have been required to "... make reasonable medical efforts under the circumstances to preserve both the life of the mother and the life of her unborn child". If these efforts could not be proven physicians could be subject to a fine of $5000 for doing an abortion for any other reason other than to save a women's life. The act had specifically defined pregnancy as beginning at the point of conception, rather than at implantation into the uterine wall (see
beginning of pregnancy controversy), which might have meant that WHHLPA applied to
emergency contraception, and on its face possibly all forms of
hormonal contraception. The text of the bill read: "Nothing in section 2 of this Act may be construed to prohibit the sale, use, prescription, or administration of a contraceptive measure, drug, or chemical, if it is administered prior to the time when a pregnancy could be determined through conventional medical testing and if the contraceptive measure is sold, used, prescribed, or administered in accordance with manufacturer instructions." per the recommendation of the task force (the Supreme Court at that time was shifting in a
conservative direction, one that might have been more amenable to overturning
Roe: See also
Supreme Court of the United StatesPolitical Leanings). ==Repeal==