1/9/12: South Dakota Abortion Law Gets Full Review

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The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to rehear a challenge to a South Dakota law that requires abortion-minded women be told of increased risks of depression and suicide.

A three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit had ruled the suicide provision unconstitutional. Now the full panel of Eighth Circuit judges has decided to rehear the case. One of the sections required that women seeking an abortion be advised that the procedure will “terminate the life of a separate, unique, whole living human being.”

The three-judge panel voted 2-1 to strike down the suicide provision. The dissenting judge, Raymond Gruender sharply disputed the court’s conclusions citing a known statistical correlation between abortion and suicide.