South Dakota’s congressional delegation is celebrating the country’s top court overturning Roe v. Wade.
The debate on abortion now heads to states to decide how to regulate the procedure.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a nearly 50-year-old precedent that said women had a constitutional right to abortion.
U.S. Sen. John Thune is the minority whip, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate. He said states will adopt a patchwork of abortion laws, and that will cause pressure to build nationally.
“I think both sides at the federal level will be engaged — and their constituencies — trying to get some sort of federal solution," Thune said. But, in the near term, what you’re going to see happen is debates in states across the country. States will adopt difference statutes.”
A congressional solution — for example, banning or legalizing abortion nationally — would take 60 votes in the Senate, which is currently split in half politically.
In his own concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court should reconsider precedents on same-sex marriage and relationships, as well as access to birth control.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, fielded a question about Thomas on Tuesday while speaking to reporters in Hot Springs.
“I think the fact that it was 8 to 1 in opposition to his message suggests that the court would not take it up,” Rounds said. “So, at this stage of the game, I think the consistency of 8 to 1 is probably the stronger message out there.”
With the Supreme Court ruling, South Dakota now bans abortions, except in the case of saving the life of the mother. The Republican-controlled state Legislature and Gov. Kristi Noem have said they will call a special session to take up more abortion legislation. No specific polies or dates have been announced.
