Abortion measure passes Senate committee

Air Date:02/28/2011

By Jackelyn Severin

A measure requiring women to wait 72 hours before receiving an abortion has passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. House Bill 1217 also requires anyone seeking an abortion to receive counseling from a pregnancy help center.

Opponents of House Bill 1217 say it inhibits the ability for women to receive abortions in the state of South Dakota. They say the measure infringes on individual rights and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Marvin Buehner practices obstetrics and genecology out of Rapid City. He says counselors at pregnancy help centers are not qualified and often give out misinformation.

“Although some centers are represented by dedicated people like you’ve heard from today the fact remains that in 2006 a U.S. House committee found that 87 percent of these pregnancy crisis centers gave false or misleading information about abortion to investigators,” says Buehner.

Proponents of the measure say it protects women from getting unwanted abortions.

The measure passed by a vote of 6 to 1 and now goes to the Senate floor for further debate.

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