Adding constitutional depravation to untimely death: South Dakota's living will pregnancy provision.

Abstract

In 1991, the South Dakota Legislature enacted a living will statute. Included is a pregnancy provision that prevents pregnant women from obtaining the full benefit of the statute. A South Dakota Attorney General's opinion was released discussing the conflict of laws problems posed by the statute. That opinion, however, did not address the more important question of the constitutionality of the pregnancy provision. This comment analyzes the pregnancy provision under the Due Process, Equal Protection, and the Establishment Clauses and concludes that South Dakota's pregnancy provision is unconstitutional under all three doctrines.