Abortion measure lawsuit dismissed in Minnehaha County

Leslee Unruh (left) and Jon Hansen (right), leaders of Life Defense Fund, celebrate the anticipated failure of Amendment G at the group's election night watch party in Sioux Falls on Nov. 5, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

A Sioux Falls judge has dismissed a lawsuit over an abortion rights ballot question less than two weeks after voters rejected the measure.

An anti-abortion group called Life Defense Fund sued the sponsors of Amendment G , Dakotans for Health, over the summer in Minnehaha County circuit court.

The amendment would have restored abortion rights in South Dakota, which has a near-total abortion ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.

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The anti-abortion group, which was also involved with the political opposition to Amendment G, alleged that the sponsoring group's petition gatherers had broken South Dakota laws on signature collection.

Voters rejected Amendment G, with 59% casting a "no" ballot.

Shortly after the election, Dakotans for Health moved to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the election had rendered any lingering legal issues moot. Judge John Pekas, however, rejected that motion. Life Defense Fund's lawsuit sought not only to invalidate petition signatures it alleged were collected in violation of state law, but to bar Dakotans for Health's Rick Weiland from being involved in future petition drives, citing a law allowing such a move for petition sponsors who "knowingly or with reckless disregard" commit violations of petition circulation law.

The election results could constitute a reason for dismissal of parts of the case, Pekas wrote, but not the issue of Weiland's potential future involvement with the ballot measure process.

Last Wednesday, however, Lawyers with Life Defense Fund filed a motion to dismiss the case, "with each respective party to bear its own costs and attorney fees."

Pekas dismissed the case on Friday.