Sex ed Rights

• South Dakota state law does not require schools to provide sex education and thus is not required to be comprehensive, including instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity or consent, but is required to include instruction on abstinence. There is no standard regarding medically accurate sex education.
• Teaching about contraceptives, such as condoms or the Pill, is not required.
• Abstinence is taught within state-mandated education in the required “character development instruction” mandated by South Dakota statute.
• There is no standard regarding the ability of parents or guardians to remove their children from sex education instruction.
• If you want your school to offer comprehensive sex ed classes, be sure to learn more at SIECUS about your state. You can make a difference!

HIV/AIDS and Other STDs Education

• South Dakota state law does not require STI, including HIV/AIDS, education.

Age of Minority

17

• In South Dakota, as with most states, you are considered a minor (someone who is not an adult) if you are under 18 years old.
• This is a legal status that lawmakers created for your protection. We want you to be informed because being a “minor” affects your right to information and services. To learn more, read on!

Age of Consent

16

• Legally, people can’t consent (or agree) to sex (with someone who is considered an adult) until they reach a specific age. This is called the “age of consent.” Consent laws are meant to protect minors from being manipulated or forced into sex with older people.
• Laws about consent may be different depending on the type of sex—vaginal, anal or oral—and the genders of those having sex.
• The age of consent in South Dakota is 16.
• While there is no close-in-age exemption, if the offender is under age 18 or no more than three years older than the victim, punishment is reduced.

LGBTQ Rights

• In South Dakota, not only are there no non-discrimination or anti-bullying laws protecting students in schools on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity, there is also a law that bans the creation of such laws.
• Hate crime laws do not include the protection of students on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
• If discrimination, harassment or a hate crime happens to you or someone you know, please call the Gay and Lesbian National Hotline at 1-888-THE-GLNH (843-4564) for help and support, or check out Lambda Legal. No one deserves discrimination or harassment!

HIV / AIDS Testing

• In South Dakota, minors age 14 to 18 don’t need permission from a parent or guardian to get tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV.
• If you’re a minor, it’s especially important for you to ask questions about confidentiality when you call to make your appointment. Specifically ask, “If I make an appointment and receive any kind of services at your clinic, will you tell my parents or anyone else?” This applies to all services, including testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
• Find an HIV testing site in your area or call the Centers for Disease Control’s 24-hour National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636).

Condoms

• People of any age, including teens, can buy condoms from a drugstore, pharmacy, grocery store or even online. A 12-pack of condoms costs about $9-12. Internal or female condoms are about $2-4 per condom. Many grocery stores and pharmacies don’t carry internal/female condoms, but they can be found online, at Planned Parenthood, at family planning clinics and by prescription.
• You can get condoms for free or at a reduced cost from health clinics (like Planned Parenthood), HIV testing centers and local health departments. Call 1-800-230-PLAN (7526) for the nearest Planned Parenthood.
• Always check the expiration date on condoms to make sure that the condoms haven’t expired yet. For information on how to use a condom correctly, check out this FAQ. Learn all about internal/female condoms on Sexetc.org.
• It is not explicitly stated in any statute whether or not minors have access to Prep/PEP without parental consent. It is best to contact your doctor or local clinic for more information in your county.
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  In South Dakota, there are currently no laws allowing minors to receive vaccines without parental consent, unless they are emancipated by (1) marrying, (2) serving on active duty military service or (3) receiving a court declaration of emancipation. This requires parental agreement.

Birth Control

• In South Dakota, if you are 16 or older and/or married, you can get a prescription for contraception without a parent’s permission. This is also true if your health care provider considers you a “mature minor,” which means they consider you responsible or mature enough to get a contraception prescription without a parent’s permission.
• Clinics called “Title X clinics”—pronounced “title ten”—provide confidential sexual and reproductive health care to both teens and adults. Title X clinics offer many services, including prescriptions for the Pill, pregnancy option counseling, and testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and infections, including HIV.
  • These clinics charge on what’s called a sliding-scale fee basis, which means they help you pay what you can afford, and you can pay in cash. If you pay for your visit by using your family’s health insurance, then your parents are likely to see the bill when it arrives in the mail.
• Call 1-800-230-PLAN (7526) for the nearest Planned Parenthood.
• Or use this tool to find a Title X clinic near you:
• When you make an appointment for health care, ask about confidentiality rules. When you call, ask:
  • Can I get services at your office without my parents’ permission?
  • Can my parent/s have access to my records?
  • Will my parent/s see the bill?
• It is your right to get sexual and reproductive health care where you feel safe and comfortable, so don’t worry about asking these questions.

Abortion Access

This section is currently being updated and may not have the most current information (as you know, these laws have been shifting quickly). We are working to refresh it ASAP! For now, you can see updated abortion policies here.

• Abortion is banned in South Dakota, with rare exceptions.
• If you are under 18 years old and want an abortion, one parent must be notified before you can get one. This is called parental notification. If you if it’s not best for you to involve a parent in your abortion decision, you can ask a judge for permission. This is called judicial bypass. If your life is endangered, the physician may perform the abortion without notifying a parent, however the physician must notify a parent afterwards, unless you get permission from a judge, which is called a judicial bypass.
• There is a 72-hour mandatory waiting period before someone can get an abortion in South Dakota. The 72 hours cannot include weekend days or annual state holidays.
• In-person counseling is required before someone can get an abortion in South Dakota. This means that you have to make two trips to the abortion provider before having an abortion.
• South Dakota does not provide Medicaid (health care) coverage for abortions except in rare cases to protect a woman’s life.
• If you need more information on abortion or help paying for an abortion, call the National Abortion Federation Hotline at 1-800-772-9100, Monday–Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time).

Adoption

• To learn about adoption, visit the National Council for Adoption.

Pregnancy

• You do not need a prescription from a doctor or health care provider to get a pregnancy test. You can purchase a pregnancy test from a pharmacy, grocery store or online. They cost between $10 and $18. You can also take a pregnancy test at a doctor’s office or clinic, like Planned Parenthood. Many clinics offer free or reduced-cost pregnancy tests.
• Visits to clinics known as Title X (ten) clinics are confidential for teens and adults.
• Use this tool to find a Title X clinic near you:
• Or call 1-800-230-PLAN (7526) for the nearest Planned Parenthood.
• If you pay for your visit by using your family’s health insurance, your parents are likely to see the details of your visit when the bill arrives. Almost all clinics provide free or reduced-cost services to teens to make it easier to afford services.
• Beware of so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). These centers claim to give you complete and accurate information about your pregnancy options when they actually want to discourage you from getting an abortion. They offer misleading and medically inaccurate information about abortion. Common names of these centers are “Crisis Pregnancy Center,” “Pregnancy Aid,” “Birth Right,” “Open Door” or “Pregnancy Counseling Center.” They are often set up near clinics and Planned Parenthood locations in order to confuse patients to accidentally enter the CPC instead.

Emergency Contraception

• There are several types—or “brands”—of emergency contraception, sometimes called EC or the morning after pill.
• People of any age can buy the brand Plan B One Step and its generic versions at a local pharmacy over the counter, which means you can buy EC without a prescription.
• EC sells for between $35 and $60. Prices vary depending on the brand and the pharmacy.
• To find an EC provider, call the Emergency Contraception Hotline at 1-888-NOT-2-LATE (668-2528). They can help you find access to EC if you’re having any trouble at all.
• South Dakota does not require emergency rooms to provide EC or information on EC to rape survivors.
• If you have been raped and you want EC, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). Open 24 hours, the hotline will connect you to EC providers near you. For other helpful information, check out the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network’s Web site.

Sexting

• In South Dakota, there are laws that make it illegal to sext as a minor. The law states that no minor “may intentionally create, produce, distribute, present, transmit, post, exchange, disseminate or possess, through any computer or digital media, any photograph or digitized image or any visual depiction of a minor in any condition of nudity” or “involved in any prohibited sexual act.”
• These laws can be confusing, so it’s best to simply keep in mind that South Dakota law says that sexting when you’re a minor (whether you’re in the images or another minor is) is illegal.