PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A South Dakota House committee has passed a bill that would boost the penalty for performing abortions after 19 weeks of pregnancy from a misdemeanor to a felony.
The panel on Monday revisited a law approved last year that prohibits abortions after 19 weeks and made performing them a misdemeanor, except in medical emergencies.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Steven Haugaard, a Republican from Sioux Falls, says the misdemeanor charge was an inconsistency in the state’s abortion penalty statute and that this bill would fix that.
The state’s only abortion clinic, Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, does not perform abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Samantha Spawn of the abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice South Dakota says legislators who support the bill intended to punish women and have “misplaced priorities.”
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