“South Dakota protects preborn lives and the pro-life coalition there is strong – tonight’s victories will only help make it stronger,” said SFLAction’s Chanel Prunier. “We’re excited to stand with a new crop of pro-life leaders unafraid to challenge voices in their own party as they stand up for preborn babies against abortion violence.”
Contact [email protected] to set up interviews.
PIERRE SD (06-04-2024) – Students for Life Action (SFLAction) celebrates the election of five pro-life leaders in South Dakota’s House and Senate primary races. SFLAction Vice President of Political Affairs Chanel Prunier said, “We’re grateful to see these pro-life champions in particular advance to the general election, as we were active educating voters in their districts regarding their records and their opponents, notably to highlight those who voted against our Chemical Abortion Prevention Act.”
In 2022, Students for Life Action inspired legislation ending the distribution of dangerous Chemical Abortion Pills in the state (HB 1208) passed the House, but some legislators opposed the bill. Students for Life Action sought to educate voters ahead of the election which candidates would be leaders who fought to end the distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills in their state and ensure protection from the beginning of life and which candidates had failed to stand for life.
“South Dakota voters have reaffirmed their belief that preborn babies and mothers deserve pro-life champions who will fight for them against the pro-abortion forces at work in their state.”
Numerous successful candidates returned the Students for Life Action Candidate Survey and pledged to vote pro-life 100%, including:
Carl Perry (Senate 3)
- Running in a close, competitive race.
Mykala Voita (Senate 21)
- The challenger to an incumbent, Sen. Erin Tobin, who voted to kill HB 1208, our Chemical Abortion Prevention Act bill.
Taffy Howard (Senate 34)
- Running in a close, competitive race.
John Sjaarda (House 2)
- His opponent made statements regarding offering legislation re-legalize some abortions
Heather Baxter (House 34)
- The challenger to an incumbent who voted against our Chemical Abortion Prevention Act bill.
Leading up to the election, SFLAction sent out 15,986 text messages, and made 13,535 phone calls across five targeted districts.
Recently, SFLAction released its second Pro-Life Generation Report Card, scoring the 118th Congress on key pro-life votes, legislation co-sponsorships, and stances in defense of the preborn so far this Congressional cycle. The lone U.S. House of Representative and two U.S. Senators’ pro-life voting records resulted in an excellent averaged total score of an “A” for South Dakota.
SFLAction has been in South Dakota for many years, scoring victories for preborn lives and mothers and campaigning to educate voters and lawmakers on the need to strengthen pro-life laws. In addition to HB 1208, Below are examples of that impact:
- SFLAction supported and advocated for the passage of HB 1318, a Chemical Abortion Pill regulation which limits the conditions under which the deadly drugs can be dispensed. This was signed into law in 2022.
READ: SFLAction Applauds Passage of South Dakota’s Revived Chemical Abortion Restriction
- SFLAction supports legislation introduced by Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt, the Medical Education Bill, H.B.1224, would allocate $100,000 towards the development of a training video and supplementary materials.
- Alongside The Liberty Justice Center, SFLAction filed a lawsuit against South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, who is attempting to dox and expose pro-life donors and supporters.
- After advocating in the state, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill to allow people to revoke their signatures from ballot initiative petitions. This is part of a larger fight that SFLAction is waging across the country against abortion ballot initiatives, largely designed to expand abortion to nearly limitless levels in every state facing a signature collection campaign.
ABORTION IS ON THE BALLOT IN 2024 – TO SEE WHERE, CLICK HERE.
“We are ready to push back against the November abortion ballot initiative in South Dakota, should the signature verification campaign that’s currently underway in the state succeed,” said Prunier. “Students for Life Action will not stand back and watch as the pro-life wins we’ve helped secure over the years get taken out by the pro-abortion lobby and their Democrat and big corporate enablers.”
SFLAction’s commitment to shaping a pro-life vision for America is laid out in our GOP for Life campaign, where we are calling on Republican leaders to maintain and defend pro-life laws and protections within the GOP party platform.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GOP FOR LIFE CAMPAIGN, CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE FOR RNC LEADERSHIP PLEDGE.
For interviews, contact [email protected].
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The Pro-Life Generation (PLG) is an umbrella organization encompassing the most-cutting edge engagement opportunities for a Vote Pro-Life First Community. PLG includes Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), that together make up the nation’s largest, pro-life youth organization, managing a grassroots political and policy operation engaging Americans of all ages but with a special emphasis on the largest segment of voters — the Youth Vote. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, PLG/SFLA/SFLAction serves more than 1,400 groups on middle, high school, college, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. Our team has more conversations with this generation targeted by the abortion lobby than any other pro-life operation in the world, each week reaching more than 4 million across social media platforms and averaging 1.3 million video views. In addition to SFLA/SFLAction, PLG leads multiple initiatives to lead and serve the future of the pro-life movement including the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing With You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement . Over more than 17 years, PLG CEO Kristan Hawkins has grown the operation into a nearly $20M organization, now preparing for an abortion-free America.