By Michael Pauley
Executive Director, SDCC

October is “Respect Life Month” — a time when the Catholic bishops of the United States have asked us to reflect on our duty to protect vulnerable human life. This occasion prompted me to reflect on what the Church in South Dakota was facing just one year ago. We were focused on the dire threat posed by Amendment G — the ballot measure to legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. In the October 2024 edition of the West River Catholic, Bishop Bullock implored the faithful, “Let us come to the defense of God’s precious gift of life in the least of us, the child in the womb, by voting ‘no’ on Amendment G.”

Thankfully, Catholics responded with prayer and action, and the happy result was that Amendment G was rejected by 59% of voters. Among all states that have considered abortion-related ballot measures in recent years, South Dakota delivered the most robust pro-life victory.

While we rightfully celebrate the defeat of Amendment G, much work remains to be done. Our goal has never been just to make abortion illegal. We must also make it unthinkable – and this will require many more years of work. There are many abortion-vulnerable women in our state, and they need our help. Some women are traveling out of state and having abortions in jurisdictions where it remains legal. We also know that dangerous abortion-inducing drugs are illegally distributed in South Dakota.

Moving forward, there are at least two urgent tasks before us. First, we must rally around South Dakota’s pro-life pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) and support their programs to serve abortion-vulnerable women. Consider becoming a financial supporter, or volunteer at the PRC that is closest to you. Click here to see a list of PRCs.

Second, we must work for the cultural change that will reduce demand for abortion. Data on abortion collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control tells us that nearly 88 percent of women having abortions are unmarried. The nexus between abortion and the abandonment of traditional sexual norms is obvious.

The ambitious task before us is to create a new culture of sexual integrity that can replace the broken and dysfunctional social milieu that we’ve inherited from the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s. In the Church, we should broaden our understanding of what is considered “pro-life” work. When we encourage young people to get married and stay married, that strikes a blow against the abortion culture. When we catechize young people in Christian sexual morality, including Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” we equip them to resist the lies emanating from the Sexual Revolution and embrace a life-affirming paradigm.

The change described above won’t happen overnight. It demands patience and perseverance. It requires religious, cultural, and political leaders who know how to play the long game. The cynic will say it’s impossible — but as recently as a year ago, many of the “smart people” in society told us that stopping Amendment G was impossible. We ignored them — and we won.