The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports House Bill 1178, which will prohibit the use of state-owned facilities or public moneys to support or facilitate obscene live conduct at public universities under the control of the Board of Regents. Public authorities should work to uphold morality, rather than undermining it by Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports House Bill 1217, a bill that would give county and municipal governments the ability to restrict or prohibit the placement of video lottery machines within the boundaries of a local jurisdiction. While games of chance are not intrinsically evil or unjust, gambling becomes morally Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference opposes Senate Bill 216, which would permit medical providers to prescribe puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones to minors, for the purpose of making an individual appear to be a sex that is not consistent with his or her biological sex. SB 216 would partially repeal Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference opposes Senate Bill 210, which proposes to legalize abortion throughout pregnancy and repeal most of the pro-life laws enacted in South Dakota during the last several decades. In the encyclical Evangelium Vitae (62), St. Pope John Paul II stated: “…direct abortion… always constitutes a grave Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports passage of House Bill 1257, a measure that would require websites containing material harmful to minors to implement age verification procedures to prevent access by those under the age of 18. The Church teaches that pornography “does grave injury to the dignity of its Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports House Bill 1150, which would allow local governments to exercise control over the presence and operation of commercial medical marijuana establishments within their jurisdictions. The Church teaches, “The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference opposes passage of Senate Bill 192, a bill that would double the amount of money that can be spent on a video lottery machine game, from two dollars to four dollars, and increase the award amount per bet from $1,000 to $2,000. While games of Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports passage of Senate Bill 109, legislation that proposes a provisional repeal of the death penalty. In his landmark encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), St. Pope John Paul II explained the Church’s teaching on criminal punishments: “Public authority must redress the violation of Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports House Concurrent Resolution 6008, a measure that expresses the legislature’s opposition to an initiated measure that would add a “right to abortion” to the state constitution of South Dakota. HCR 6008 recognizes that the right to life is the “most basic and fundamental right”, Read more…
The South Dakota Catholic Conference supports Senate Bill 72, a measure to raise the cap on South Dakota’s tax-credit K-12 scholarship program to $5 million. The program is currently capped at $3.5 million. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council taught, “Parents who have the primary and inalienable right and Read more…