Sioux Falls, S.D., Aug 25, 2009 / 04:21 am
A federal court has upheld portions of South Dakota’s informed consent law which require doctors to tell women considering an abortion that they are terminating a human life. However, the court ruled doctors did not have to inform women they are terminating a legally protected relationship with an unborn human being.
According to the legal definition of the term, the preborn are not “persons,” the judge ruled.
The case concerned the 2005 South Dakota law House Bill 1166, which instated additional informed consent requirements for an abortion procedure.
Planned Parenthood, the operator of the state’s only abortion clinic, challenged the law and secured a court injunction against it.