Abortion services have paused at South Dakota's only abortion provider, a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sioux Falls.
The move comes as the clinic waits for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether to overturn Roe v. Wade.
That decision could come soon — and the state has a law on the books that would automatically make abortion illegal in most cases if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Emily Bisek is Planned Parenthood’s vice president of communications for the area. She says the decision to no longer offer abortion services was made to ensure patients do not get caught up in those legal decisions.
“Because South Dakota has so many medically unnecessary laws governing abortion, it takes multiple appointments for patients to get the care they need,” she says. "So, we just can't, in good faith, be scheduling abortions right now while we wait for the decision because there's a chance that those patients might have to go out of state anyway.”
The Planned Parenthood clinic is still offering all other services and plans to immediately bring back abortion services if Roe v. Wade is not overturned.
