The South Dakota House of Representatives shot down a sweeping parental rights bill. In a 35-30 vote, the lawmakers rejected the bill.
The bill declared that the government “may not substantially burden the fundamental right of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of the parent’s minor child, without demonstrating that the burden imposed on the parent is required by a compelling governmental interest as applied to the parent and the parent’s minor child and is the least restrictive means for furthering that compelling governmental interest.”
Unless a law enforcement officer is conducting a criminal investigation, an employee of a state or political entity may not “[e]ncourage or coerce a minor child to withhold information from the minor child’s parent” or “[w]ithhold from a minor child’s parent information that is relevant to the physical, emotional, or mental health of the parent’s minor child.”
The legislation further directs school boards and districts to develop a plan by which a parent is notified and consents to “any instruction in or presentation on human sexuality, human sexual behavior, an understanding of an individual’s identity disconnected from or inconsistent with the biological reality of an individual’s sex, or the idea that an individual is able to identify with a gender that corresponds to an individual’s internal and subjective sense of self, disconnected from the biological reality of the minor’s sex.”
Lawmakers expressed concern that the legislation places children at risk in abusive households.
KOTA reports that prior to the final vote, Rep. Heather Baxter, a Republican, introduced an amendment that ensured the bill would not impeded on abuse or neglect investigations.
“I just wanted to bring an additional amendment, just further clarifying that this legislation does not impede an investigation into child abuse or neglect,” Baxter said, adding, “Unless there is perversion of this relationship like abuse or neglect, we as the state should step back and let this relationship flourish.”
