[JURIST] A group of South Dakota lawmakers on Tuesday presented a resolution [text, PDF] to the US Supreme Court asking it to overturn its abortion rulings in such cases as Roe v. Wade [opinion]. The lawmakers believe [Washington Times report] they have significant evidence that such rulings are doing significant harm to women. The resolution passed through both South Dakota’s House and Senate with a majority vote. The unprecedented resolution urges the court to overturn the decision in Roe in order to allow state law makers to pass laws to protect the women and children of their state.

Abortion [JURIST news archive] related issues remain a controversial topic in the US. In July the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] overturned [JURIST report] a summary decision that an anti-abortion activist’s letter was protected speech under the First Amendment [LII backgrounder]. Also in July Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law [JURIST report] the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, limiting the ability of a woman to seek an abortion more than 20 weeks into her pregnancy. In June the US Supreme Court granted a motion [JURIST report], allowing over half of Texas’ 18 abortion clinics to stay open by temporarily blocking a law that would place stringent requirements on clinics requiring the majority of them to close. Also in June a Kansas judge for the Shawnee County District Court blocked a law [JURIST report] that would have effectively banned most second-trimester abortions performed in the state. In May the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down [JURIST report] portions of two Idaho abortion laws.