South Dakota Heart Auscultation Reporting Requirement Bill (HB 1190)

HB 1190 amends abortion reporting requirements.

The law requires physicians to include the number of pregnant people who availed themselves of the opportunity to view a sonogram image and/or hear the fetal heartbeat, in each abortion report.

Below is the original version of HB 1190.

As introduced, HB 1190 would have prohibited a physician from performing an abortion on a pregnant person without first making audible the heart auscultation—if present—of the fetus.

The bill would have required the physician to provide a verbal explanation of the heart auscultation in a manner understandable to a layperson. If the pregnant person chose not to receive any verbal explanation, it would have had to have been documented by the abortion facility, including the date, time, and the pregnant person’s signature attesting to their choice.

Current state law prohibits facilities that perform abortions from performing an abortion on a pregnant person without first offering the pregnant person an opportunity to view a sonogram of the fetus. The pregnant person would have been able to decline to view the images. This bill would have required the fetal heart tone to be made audible. The pregnant patient could only opt-out of hearing the verbal description.

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