A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Petitioning Congress and the President to immediately defund Planned Parenthood of all federal funding; strongly condemning the recent unrestrictive abortion law passed in New York state; and, expressing South Dakotans' continued resolve to secure the blessings of life and liberty for our posterity.

    WHEREAS, New York state recently passed one of the most barbaric abortion laws in United States history, essentially making it legal to abort a baby at any stage of pregnancy, up to the moment of birth, and even removed legal protections for babies born alive from botched abortions; and

    WHEREAS, many South Dakotans were disgusted by the gruesome cheering at the passage and signing of New York state's bill, and the carnage it means for innocent unborn babies; and

    WHEREAS, the purpose of the United States Constitution is "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity"; and

    WHEREAS, the passage of such proabortion laws are a curse on the blessing of liberty, to

our posterity, and to ourselves; and

    WHEREAS, according to its latest annual report, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates were responsible for 332,757 abortions in the United States in 2018, thereby representing an increase of approximately 11,000 abortions from the prior year and increasing the total number of babies killed to more than an estimated 8,326,000; and

    WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood's total revenue in fiscal year 2017 was $1.665 billion, including $563.8 million from tax payer funding _ record highs for both categories; and

    WHEREAS, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Planned Parenthood's advocacy and political arms spent more than $8.1 million in 2018 to oppose Republicans and elect political candidates sympathetic to their immoral policy objectives on abortion; and

    WHEREAS, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Planned Parenthood provides about one-third to one-half of all abortions in the United States; and

    WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood referred only 2,831 women to adoption services during the entire year of 2018 _ about 1,000 less than the year before; and

    WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood claims it is a health organization, yet its annual report shows a dramatic decrease in most of its non-abortion services _ the issuance of contraceptives was down by 80,000, cancer screenings were down by 45,000, and other "women's health services," such as well-woman exams and prenatal services decreased by 13,000; and

    WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood President Dr. Leana Wen recently acknowledged that abortion is not just a service the organization provides, but it is Planned Parenthood's core mission; and

    WHEREAS, in July 2015, investigative journalists with the Center for Medical Progress began releasing a series of undercover videos in which various senior leaders of Planned

Parenthood spoke in astonishingly frank, horrific, and euphemistic ways about unborn babies, their use of illegal abortion methods, and their harvesting of tissues and organs from unborn babies to further profit from the practice of abortion; and

    WHEREAS, contrary to claims by Planned Parenthood and its allies that the videos were edited in a manner to falsely portray the participants' intent, the veracity of the videos has been verified by two different experts, one of whom was commissioned by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; and

    WHEREAS, for their efforts in exposing the illegal activities of Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion industry, leaders of the Center for Medical Progress have been subjected to censorship of their videos, politically motivated lawsuits, criminal charges, and continuing legal jeopardy, including being held in contempt of court for recently releasing new undercover videos; and

    WHEREAS, the United States House of Representatives Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives and the United States Senate Judiciary Committee have each made criminal referrals to the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation after each found evidence that Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion industry may have violated federal law by the use of illegal abortion methods, including late-term, partial-birth, and born-alive abortions, and the procurement of fetal tissue for profit; and

    WHEREAS, although in 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 241-187 to approve H.R. 3134, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015, the legislation has languished and Planned Parenthood continues to receive more than half a billion dollars each year from United States taxpayers; and

    WHEREAS, our children and pre-born children are our posterity; and

    WHEREAS, our most important blessing is the right to life; and

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    WHEREAS, the right to life of all innocent persons is God-given and unalienable; and

    WHEREAS, it has been forty-six years since the Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court of the United States and the assault on these core principles; and

    WHEREAS, an estimated sixty-one million, forty-four thousand nine hundred thirty-eighty babies have been aborted in the United States since 1973; and

    WHEREAS, because South Dakota Codified Law § 26-1-2 states, "A child conceived, but not born, is to be deemed an existing person so far as may be necessary for its interests in the event of its subsequent birth," every time we allow a conceived child to be aborted, we fail in our lawful duty to protect their interests:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the Ninety-Fourth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature commits to providing all pre-born children their God-given right to exist and commits to appropriate protections by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and emphatically urges the South Dakota Supreme Court, the Governor of South Dakota, the Attorney General of South Dakota, and the Supreme Court of the United States to take all actions necessary to do so; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the South Dakota Legislature strongly condemns the recent unrestrictive abortion law passed in New York state as barbaric and inhumane; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the South Dakota Legislature denounces the immoral abortion agenda and practices of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates, especially their role in the unjust killing of 332,757 precious unborn babies in 2018, the use of particularly gruesome illegal abortion methods, and profiteering from harvesting unborn babies' tissues and organs; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the South Dakota Legislature urges the United States

Congress and President Donald Trump to defund Planned Parenthood immediately and completely end all federal government support and tax payer funding; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the United States Department of Justice to pursue criminal charges against the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates for their use of illegal abortion methods, trafficking in and profiting from the harvesting of unborn babies' tissues and organs, and any other actions that may be in violation of federal law; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the South Dakota Legislature calls on Representative Dusty Johnson, Senator John Thune, and Senator Mike Rounds to vote against all legislation providing funding to Planned Parenthood and to sponsor legislation to immediately and completely end all federal government support and tax payer funding of Planned Parenthood; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the chief clerk of the House of Representatives prepare copies of this resolution and forward them to the President of the United States, the speaker and clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the president and secretary of the United States Senate, the Attorney General of the United States, Representative Dusty Johnson, Senator John Thune, and Senator Mike Rounds.