South Dakota

2023 South Dakota Codified Laws | Title 34 - Public Health and Safety | Chapter 23A - Performance Of Abortions

Section 34-23A-11 - Counselor or social worker not liable for arranging abortion--Retaliation from employer prohibited.

No counselor, social worker, or anyone else who may be in such a position where the abortion question may appear as a part of their workday routine, shall be liable to any person for damages allegedly arising from advising or helping to arrange for or for refusal to arrange or encourage abortion, and there shall be no retaliation from any agency or institution with which such person may be affiliated or by which he may be employed.

Section 34-23A-12 - No liability for refusal to perform abortion.

No physician, nurse, or other person who refuses to perform or assist in the performance of an abortion shall be liable to any person for damages arising from that refusal.

Section 34-23A-13 - Medical facility not to discriminate for performance or refusal to perform abortion.

No physician, nurse, or other person who performs or refuses to perform or assist in the performance of an abortion shall, because of that performance or refusal, be dismissed, suspended, demoted, or otherwise prejudiced or damaged by a hospital or other medical facility with which he is affiliated or by which he is employed.

Section 34-23A-14 - Hospital not required to perform abortions--No liability for refusal of abortion as policy.

No hospital licensed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 34-12 is required to admit any patient for the purpose of terminating a pregnancy pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. No hospital is liable for its failure or refusal to participate in such termination if the hospital has adopted a policy not to admit patients for the purpose of terminating pregnancies as provided in this chapter.

Note: Definitions

[SD Codified L § 34-23A-1 (2023)]

(1)"Abortion," the intentional termination of the life of a human being in the uterus;

(1A)"Abortion facility," a place where abortions are performed;

(1B)"Department," the South Dakota Department of Health;

(2)"Fetus," the biological offspring, including the implanted embryo or unborn child, of human parents;

(3)"Fertilization," that point in time when a male human sperm penetrates the zona pellucida of a female human ovum;

(4)"Human being," an individual living member of the species of Homo sapiens, including the unborn human being during the entire embryonic and fetal ages from fertilization to full gestation;

(5)"Medical emergency," any condition which, on the basis of the physician's good faith clinical judgment, so complicates the medical condition of a pregnant woman as to necessitate the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function;

(6)"Parent," one parent or guardian of the pregnant minor or the guardian or conservator of the pregnant woman;

(7)"Physician," a person licensed under the provisions of chapter 36-4 or a physician practicing medicine or osteopathy in the employ of the government of the United States or of this state;

(8)"Probable gestational age of the unborn child," what, in the judgment of the physician, will with reasonable probability be the gestational age of the unborn child at the time the abortion is planned to be performed.