SD Secretary of State now included in abortion-ballot case

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson is now a defendant in the Life Defense Fund lawsuit that is trying to block the question of abortion access in the state from the Nov. 5 ballot.

Court documents filed August 13 revealed Johnson, in her capacity as Secretary of State for South Dakota, was issued a summons. The original complaint from Life Defense Fund (LDF) was also amended to include Johnson, as well as the original defendant, Dakotans for Health (DFH).

DFH collected over 54,000 signatures to get their abortion access plan on the ballot. The Secretary of State’s office then reviewed a sample of 723 signatures and validated 614 of them, which meant the amendment would appear on the ballot.

Life Defense Fund is arguing that the Secretary of State’s office improperly validated the signatures based on petition circulator residency forms and DFH not being upfront about what petitions voters were signing. However, LDF’s original lawsuit only included the amendment’s sponsor, Dakotans for Health.

On August 2, the South Dakota Supreme Court reversed a circuit judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit.

“This Court concluded that the circuit court erred in dismissing the matter based on its determination that (Life Defense Fund) should have brought the case as a quo warranto action to challenge the Secretary of State’s authority,” the South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Jensen wrote in his two-page order.

Additional court documents show that the Secretary of State’s office received the summons, but it is still unclear whether Johnson will have to appear in court. The next hearing is scheduled for Friday, August 23.

Amendment G details abortion requirements based on the trimester. During the first trimester, the state would not intervene in a woman’s pregnancy or decision to abort. During the second trimester, the state may regulate abortions but only for the physical health of the pregnant woman and during the third trimester, the state may prohibit abortion except when medically necessary.

Under current South Dakota law, abortion is banned and considered a Class 6 felony punishable by up to two years in prison and up to a $4,000 fine. The only exception to the law is if there is “appropriate and reasonable medical judgment” that an abortion would save the mother’s life. There is no exception for rape or incest.

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