by John Hughes
District 13 Representative
South Dakota State Legislature
Think the “L-NO” ad campaign flooding our airwaves and social media is about giving
our people a voice? Think again! As the saying goes, “Follow the money.” The money trail
show that the “L-No” campaign is a proxy to put abortion rights in our South Dakota
Constitution. We need Amendment L to stop them in their tracks.
Among the major players in this deceptive campaign is the Fairness Project. This
highly funded Washington, D.C. organization was founded in 2015 to bring progressive issues
such as abortion and Medicaid expansion into state constitutions.
In 2023-2024, the Fairness Project spent roughly $30 million to advance abortion
rights ballot campaigns. In 2024, South Dakota voters rejected Amendment G, but the
Fairness Project is back with a vengeance trying to defeat Amendment L. This is because if
passed, Amendment L will increase the approval threshold to amend our Constitution from
a simple majority of 50% + 1 vote to 60%, therefore making it more difficult for out-of-state
progressive organizations to buy their way into our Constitution.
Based on the currently available campaign finance reports, in South Dakota alone the
Fairness Project has spent approximately $900,000 on highly charged political advertising.
Add to that 2026 activity to oppose Amendment L, which won’t be available until the
campaign finance reports are made available later this month.
The Fairness Project has succeeded in securing constitutional abortion rights in Ohio,
Arizona, and Missouri. In Florida, the Fairness Project failed because Florida has a 60%
threshold for constitutional amendments. Amendment L would do the same in South
Dakota.
Voters should know that if abortion becomes a constitutional right in South Dakota,
a logical progression is for courts to require taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. Ask yourself
before voting on L on November 3…are you okay with your taxpayer dollars being used to
fund abortions?
South Dakota has one of the easiest ways to amend our Constitution in the country.
By comparison, an effort to amend our U.S. Constitution requires an approval vote of two
thirds of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, and then approval by three-fourths of the 50
states. Why should our South Dakota Constitution be so much easier to amend?
Amendment L is a threat to the Fairness Project’s national abortion agenda for all fifty
states. After Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade, the Fairness Project pledged to “go on offense
for abortion rights” at the state level. It touts itself as the largest funder of abortion rights
efforts nationally.
South Dakota’s simple majority to amend and low voter turnout have prompted ballot
question activists promoting abortion rights and marijuana to unleash a barrage of efforts to
amend our constitution and make their ideology part of our state constitution.
Before 1972, South Dakota citizens could not initiate an amendment to our
constitution, and then only with legislative approval. In 1988, the need for legislative
approval was removed. But things are different now than they were then, because in 2010
the Citizens United decision allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts
of money on political advocacy, and that includes citizen-initiated ballot campaigns to
change state constitutions. PAC and Super PAC money is flowing into our state because we
have such a low threshold to amend our Constitution. Amendment L is needed to protect
our Constitution from this PAC money onslaught.
L NO claims voters rejected efforts in 2018 and 2022 to make our Constitution more
difficult to amend. In 2018, South Dakota voters rejected Amendment X, which would have
required a 55% approval for constitutional amendments, but passed two other reforms. In
2022, voters rejected Amendment C, which was complicated in that it proposed a 60%
threshold for certain ballot measures including taxes and appropriations. Amendment L is
different in its scope and approach. It’s simple. It only proposes a 60% threshold specifically
for future amendments to our Constitution.
Amendment L preserves voter rights to initiate new laws and refer laws passed by the
legislature, which stays at a simple majority of 50% + 1 of ballots cast. State laws can be
enacted, repealed or amended as public consensus changes and scientific knowledge
increases, but a constitutional amendment is essentially a permanent change, as another
constitutional amendment is necessary to repeal or amend the change.
Unlike the deceptive “L-No” adds claiming that “Yes on L” efforts are funded by
billionaires and data centers, those of us supporting L are a grassroots group of people who
live, work, and raise their families in South Dakota, and include South Dakota non-profit
organizations such as the South Dakota Retailers Association, South Dakota Family Voice,
Protect Our South Dakota Kids, and South Dakota Right to Life.
Preserve the integrity of our South Dakota Constitution. Vote Yes on Amendment L.
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