South Dakota Task Force On Abortion's Final Report Altered, Planned Parenthood Official Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 19 Jan 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota Director Kate Looby said that the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion's final report -- which was handed to the state Legislature on Friday -- was altered from the version approved last month, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports (Ramos, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 1/14). The task force was established in March 2005 through a measure (HB 1233) approved by the state Legislature and was tasked with studying abortion and reporting its findings to the Legislature and the governor. The 17-member panel in a 72-page report recommended that the state take steps to reduce the number of abortions, including adopting an amendment to the state constitution that gives fetuses the same protections as children; requiring physicians to ask women if they have been pressured into seeking abortion; requiring physicians to verify the identity of the man who impregnated the woman and report illegal sexual activities; requiring physicians to tell women about the potential risks of abortion; requiring physicians to show women an ultrasound of the fetus prior to performing an abortion; tightening abortion clinic regulations; and strengthening laws that require fathers to support women and children (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 12/15/05).

Final Report Allegations
Looby said that, without the abortion-rights supporters' approval, whole paragraphs and sentences of the approved report were removed -- including some of the testimony by Stanley Henshaw, a researcher at the Alan Guttmacher Institute, about the effects of legal abortion on minors' health. She said she thinks this was to protect the state against any libel suit. According to task force member state Rep. Roger Hunt (R), Looby and three other task force members were not present at a conference call in which changes recommended by the state Legislative Research Council were approved (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 1/14). Looby and three other members walked out on the final meeting claiming the task force's procedures were biased, according to the AP/Bismarck Tribune. The submitted version of the report includes language saying that Henshaw's testimony was "offensive [and] eugenic in nature," and that the task force "disregard[ed] his opinion." The report also says that the task force "[found] Henshaw's discourse on how legal abortion has advanced the health of children absurd."

Minority Report Submitted
Committee members Looby, state Rep. Stan Adelstein (R), Sioux Falls-based physician Maria Bell and Rapid City-based family counselor Linda Holcomb on Friday submitted a "minority report" to state legislators that suggests ways to prevent abortions by reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies, the AP/Tribune reports (AP/Bismarck Tribune, 1/15). The minority report recommends reducing unplanned pregnancies by improving sex education and providing greater access to "affordable birth control methods," including emergency contraception, according to a PPMNS release (PPMNS release, 1/13). "Sexual education and contraception were the key to avoiding abortion or at least reducing the number of abortions anyone would seek in the state," Adelstein said (Grant, KELO-TV, 1/14). Gov. Mike Rounds (R), who appointed many of the task force members, said he has not read either report (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 1/14).

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