South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden prepares to sign three anti-abortion bills into law on March 20, 2026, at the Alpha Center in Sioux Falls. Also pictured, from left, are state Sen. Tamara Grove, R-Lower Brule, Alpha Center founder Leslee Unruh, House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, Rep. Les Heinemann, R-Flandreau, Rep. Jon Hughes, R-Sioux Falls, and Dale Bartscher of South Dakota Right to Life. (Photo by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — The Republican governor of South Dakota signed three anti-abortion bills into law Friday making it a felony to dispense or advertise abortion pills and related items, clarifying what constitutes an abortion, and requiring public schools to show students videos about prenatal development.
“My signature today will strengthen South Dakota’s pro-life laws,” Gov. Larry Rhoden told attendees during a bill signing at the Alpha pregnancy resource center.
Abortion is already prohibited in the state. Lawmakers adopted a trigger ban in 2005 that took effect in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The only exception in the law is when there is “appropriate and reasonable medical judgment” that an abortion is necessary to preserve the life of the mother.
New felony for dispensing, advertising abortion pills and related items
The existing abortion ban makes it a felony crime to administer, prescribe or procure an abortion for any “pregnant female.” One of the new laws makes that ban and crime more expansive by changing “pregnant female” to “person.”
The law also creates a new felony for any person who dispenses, distributes, sells or advertises any article or thing designed, adapted or intended to produce an abortion, or any article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine — such as abortion pills — or thing that is advertised or described “in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing an abortion.”
Additionally, the law authorizes the state attorney general to seek up to $10,000 in penalties for each violation, and to seek a court order halting violators if the attorney general “has reason to believe that a person is engaging in, has engaged in, or is about to engage in” a violation.
Clarifying abortion definition, requiring prenatal videos in schools
Another new law specifies that several pregnancy-related treatments are not abortions, including treatment to resolve a miscarriage, treatment or removal of an ectopic pregnancy, removal of a “deceased unborn child,” medical treatment that unintentionally results in the loss of the pregnancy, and any medical procedure intended to save the pregnancy or “health of the unborn child.”
The other new law will require South Dakota schools to show students a “high-definition ultrasound video” depicting the “presence of the brain, heart, and other major organs as they appear at various stages of prenatal development,” and another computer-generated rendering or animation or ultrasound video that “shows the progress of prenatal human development from fertilization through birth.”
The videos must be at least three minutes long and can’t be produced or provided by an organization that promotes or performs abortions. The law directs schools to use age-appropriate resources recommended by the state Board of Education Standards.
Governor responds to questions
Among the attendees at Friday’s bill signing were House Speaker Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, who, like Rhoden, is among the four Republicans running for the party’s nomination for governor in June. Republican Attorney General Marty Jackley was also there. He is running for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Republican Dusty Johnson, who is running for governor.
South Dakota Searchlight asked Rhoden afterward why he and lawmakers tried to define medical treatment that does not constitute an abortion, rather than amending the abortion ban to include a broadly defined exception for the health of the mother.
“Politics is the art of the possible, and I’m guessing, speculating, that, you know, you try to craft legislation that you know you can get across the finish line,” Rhoden said. “The bigger the net you throw, the more opposition you draw. So, I’m not saying that’s why, that was the case here, but I would guess that would be part of it.”
Rhoden also responded to a question about whether requiring schools to show a video of a developing fetus amounts to indoctrination.
“If you believe a life is a life, and I do, it’s not indoctrination to let others know that,” he said.
When asked about South Dakota’s lack of a rape or incest exception in the abortion ban, Rhoden said it’s a difficult issue to address.
“You draw a lot of flies on rape and incest, because, obviously, life is life, and that’s a lot tougher issue to frame than many others,” he said. “I think the life of the mother is, obviously, a lot easier for a lot more people to wrap their arms around than the rape and incest issue. And it’s all, all of it is so emotionally charged that it’s hard to really have straight-up conversations on that.”
Critics respond
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota argued against the bills throughout this year’s legislative session, which ended earlier this month. They said the bills prioritize politics over patients, evidence-based education and civil liberties.
Advocacy manager Samantha Chapman said in a statement that “although abortion is already nearly entirely banned in South Dakota, it seems like every election cycle anti-abortion politicians manufacture new ‘abortion crises’ rather than seek solutions to issues that threaten women’s health and safety.”
“The laws signed by Gov. Rhoden diminish young South Dakotans’ access to scientifically accurate sex education, interfere with doctors’ ability to care for patients and turn pregnancy outcomes into crime scene investigations,” she wrote.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists testified against all three bills. Their lobbyist warned that attempting to define what’s not an abortion could unintentionally classify some other pregnancy-related procedures — such as long-acting contraceptives — as abortion care, and said the bill still does not define when the “life of the pregnant female” is being saved, rather than treated for things like hemorrhaging and organ damage.
The organization also said its members are already struggling to access drugs that can be used for an abortion but also have other uses, such as inducing labor.
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