The South Dakota Department of Health has released a video titled “Understanding South Dakota’s Law & Medical Conditions”, which aims to provide physicians with guidance on how to practice excellent medicine while remaining in compliance with the state’s abortion law. In this video, South Dakota Department of Health Secretary Melissa Hagstadt, APRN, explains that the law prevents abortion except when necessary to save the mother’s life. Secretary Hagstadt clarifies the definition of “abortion”, stating:
Intent plays a crucial role. The law prevents interventions when the sole intent is to terminate the life of the human being in the uterus. However, the law allows interventions when needed to preserve the mother’s life. When a miscarriage occurs, when a pregnancy is located outside the uterine cavity, commonly known as an ectopic pregnancy, or when a fetus never formed, the treatment for these conditions are not considered to be an abortion.
Secretary Hagstadt also offers reassuring guidance for physicians caring for patients who are dealing with miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy, stating that they can “evaluate and treat a woman … as they always have.” She also clarifies that physicians do not need to wait until a patient is actively dying from a pregnancy complication to treat them (as many pro-abortion advocates have claimed) and offers a non-exhaustive list of conditions in which a pre-viable maternal fetal separation might be necessary and would be legal.
We are grateful to Secretary Hagstadt and the South Dakota Department of Health for producing this video and proud to have collaborated with them on this project. AAPLOG is happy to work with any state government agency to help provide this type of guidance to physicians who may be hearing mixed messages about the impact of pro-life laws on their practice. Ordinarily, we might expect medical professional organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to offer this guidance, but unfortunately, many of these organizations have not stepped in to help counter false media narratives; instead, several are contributing to the fearmongering and confusion.
If you are able to connect AAPLOG to any pro-life state’s medical board, health department, attorney general’s office, or any other agency that has the authority to guide physicians on how to comply with abortion laws, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@aaplog.org.
