A house committee is advancing a bill that requires physicians to keep a fetus alive if it is born following a botched abortion.
Critics say the bill is only designed to pad pro-life credentials for campaign season.
Elective abortions are illegal in South Dakota after 13 and a half weeks. When asked if a fetus is viable at that time, prime sponsor Republican Representative Fred Deutsch says it is not viable that early.
“This bill protects babies that are born alive that are viable. It requires those babies be treated the same as any other baby that’s born at the same gestational age that doesn’t result from abortion.”
The bill imposes an up to $100,000 civil penalty on a physician who fails to attempt or perform those life-saving operations. But critics of the bill say this scenario wouldn’t happen in the state.
Dean Krogman is a lobbyist representing the South Dakota Medical Association. He says an amendment to the bill came the evening before the hearing. Krogman says lawmakers are only approving the bill because they’re afraid of being tagged as ‘pro-choice’ and losing in a primary.
“This stuff gets down to elections, politics, and it’s too bad,” Krogman says. “Because everything I heard about a physician, a physician, a physician. Give me an example. And yet, we continue to pass in the name of abortion. I am pro-life as much as anybody, but when do you stop? When do you stop being afraid of standing up for what you individually know it. Which one of you read that page and a half amendment?”
The House committee passed the bill 10 to 3.
