South Dakota Hospital Will Send Letter To Physicians Outlining Supporters' Position On Abortion Ban Measure

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 27 Oct 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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South Dakota health system Sanford Health on Wednesday agreed to provide physicians with a letter that outlines the position of supporters of a November ballot measure that would ban abortion in the state, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports. The decision to distribute the letter follows public criticism from supporters of the ballot measure over a Sanford Health internal memo, made public last week, that said the law is unclear and could have "substantial legal implications" for the health system and its health care providers (Young, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 10/23).

The ballot measure, titled Initiated Measure 11, would ban abortions except in cases of rape or incest, to save a woman's life or to avert a "substantial and irreversible" maternal health risk of impairment to "a major bodily organ or system." Opponents of the initiative have said that its vague language on what can be considered an exception to the abortion ban could hamper physicians' ability to practice medicine. The Sanford Health memo analyzing Initiated Measure 11 stated, "For those instances where a pregnant woman faces uncertain but potentially very serious health risks, Initiated Measure 11 will require a physician to choose between possibly committing a felony or subjecting a pregnant woman to a higher degree of medical risk than what would otherwise be clinically desirable" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/16).

Legal officials with VoteYesForLife.com, which supports the measure, met with Sanford administrators to discuss the leaked internal memo. According to the Argus Leader, VoteYesForLife.com officials said that Sanford's lawyers missed important language in the initiative that says physicians would be held criminally liable only if they knowingly disregarded accepted standards of medical practice in which they are well-versed. Under the measure, a "physician who is merely negligent in reaching a conclusion that an abortion is necessary for medical reasons is not criminally liable under the law," the campaign's lawyers said, adding that to be criminally liable, "the physicians must know the abortion is not required under the standard of medical practice but doesn't care and performs the abortion anyway."

Cindy Morrison, vice president of public policy for Sanford, said that the "concerns that were outlined in our internal memo remain concerns even though the VoteYesForLife folks were very thoughtful in attempting to alleviate those concerns." She added that Sanford does not support or oppose the ballot measure. Sanford President and CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft in a letter to VoteYesForLife.com wrote that the health system's lawyers agreed that Sanford physicians would have to know standard medical procedures and intentionally disregard them when performing an abortion to violate the ban. However, he added that "what remains is the uncomfortable reality that litigation and prosecution play a large role in defining medical standard." He also wrote, "We intend to use your analysis as a complimentary (sic) alternate perspective to our internal white paper and will make it available to our physicians."

Nathan Peterson of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, which opposes the ban, said he thinks the Sanford internal memo and its concerns "seem to be a factual assessment on how Measure 11 would affect medicine in South Dakota." He added that in the time leading up to the Nov. 4 election, the group "will work as hard as we can to make sure voters know how this measure amounts to government intrusion on the health care rights of South Dakotans" (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 10/23).

Colorado Ballot Measure Discussed

C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" on Thursday included a discussion with Crystal Clinkenbeard of No on Colorado Amendment 48 and Bob Enyart of Colorado Right to Life about a ballot measure in the state that would define a fertilized egg as a person in the state constitution ("Washington Journal," C-SPAN, 10/23).

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