South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a bill that will ban abortions beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Daugaard signed the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act on Thursday, making South Dakota the 13th state in America to have such an abortion ban.
Other states that have the law are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Republican state Rep. Isaac Latterel, one of the bill's sponsors, earlier told the National Right to Life that the bill protects the unborn.
"These are people just like you and me," he said.
Dr. Fred Deutsch, president of South Dakota Right to Life, praised the governor for signing the bill.
"I'm thrilled the Governor signed the bill. The fact that the unborn baby can experience severe pain from abortion provides additional verification that the baby is a human being deserving of protection," he said, according to LifeSite News.
He added, "This legislation begins a new chapter in the history of South Dakota to protect unborn babies in our state."
According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, there is evidence that the unborn would not feel pain until weeks later, the Associated Press reported.
Expectedly, abortion provider Planned Parenthood disagreed with the law.
Timothy Stanley of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota said, "This is just another bill that puts politicians in the way of women's personal medical decisions."
South Dakota lawmakers have passed four pro-life bills this session to inform women that abortions may be reversed, to require the state health department to make its abortuary inspection records public, and to make sale of aborted foetal parts illegal, LifeSite News reported.
The Informed Consent and the Fetal Body Part Ban bills are on Governor Daugaard's desk.
Daugaard signed on Monday the Reporting Bill that requires the South Dakota Health Department to make public its records on inspections of abortion clinics.
