South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Wednesday signed a package of bills aimed at curbing abortion.
Noem said the bills will “crack down on abortion providers in South Dakota” by requiring providers to use a state form women must sign before they can end a pregnancy.
“A strong and growing body of medical research provides evidence that unborn babies can feel, think, and recognize sounds in the womb.
These are people, they must be given the same basic dignities as anyone else,” Noem said in a statement.
Another new law will require doctors to give a woman an opportunity to view a sonogram and hear the heartbeat of a fetus before an abortion.
Another bill criminalizes causing an abortion against a woman’s will.
Sarah Stoesz, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, says South Dakota lawmakers spent “precious taxpayer resources” on bills that unnecessarily restrict a woman’s access to a safe, legal abortion.
Planned Parenthood runs South Dakota’s only abortion clinic.
AP
