2005 Session Laws Chapter 177

ENTITLED, An Act to establish a task force to study abortion and to provide for its composition, scope, and administration.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:

Section 1. There is hereby established the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion. The task force shall consist of seventeen members. Six members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and six members shall be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and five members shall be appointed by the Governor. Not all members appointed by each appointive power may belong to the same political party. If there is a vacancy on the task force, the vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.

Section 2. The task force shall be under the supervision of the Executive Board of the Legislative Research Council and staffed and funded as an interim legislative committee.

Section 3. The task force shall study the practice of abortion since its legalization, the body of knowledge concerning the development and behavior of the unborn child which has developed because of technological advances and medical experience since the legalization of abortion, the societal, economic, and ethical impact and effects of legalized abortion, the degree to which decisions to undergo abortions are voluntary and informed, the effect and health risks that undergoing abortions has on the women, including the effects on the women's physical and mental health, including the delayed onset of cancer, and her subsequent life and socioeconomic experiences, the nature of the relationship between a pregnant woman and her unborn child, whether abortion is a workable method for the pregnant woman to waive her rights to a relationship with the child, whether the unborn child is capable of experiencing physical pain, whether the need exists for additional protections of the rights of pregnant women contemplating abortion, and whether there is any interest of the state or the mother or the child which would justify changing the laws relative to abortion. The task force shall prepare a report detailing its findings, which shall include any proposals for additional legislation as it may deem advisable, and submit the report to the Governor and Legislature no later than December 1, 2005.