“Whole and Separate”

“Whole and Separate”
What’s happening to women’s reproductive rights in South Dakota, and how are they getting away with it?

As of Friday, doctors in that state, before performing an abortion, are required, by law, to tell their patient that the procedure will “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being.”

Yes, and that’s only part of the script. As if it’s not bad enough that a medical practitioner, in that state, must now ask a woman if she’d like to see a sonogram of the fetus, they must also let her know that an abortion will increase her chances of suicide, and she must confirm, in writing, that she understands this. (WaPo)

This isn’t the first we’ve heard from South Dakota on this subject. Over the past two years, their legislature has attempted to place the most draconian restrictions on legal abortion of any in the country. While other states require informed consent, South Dakota is the only state currently audacious enough to describe a fetus as a separate, but equal being.