SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - South Dakotans trying to outlaw most abortions in the state filed a proposed initiated law Friday that includes exceptions for rape, incest and the mother's health.

A 2006 proposal that passed the Legislature but was rejected by voters would have allowed abortions only if the woman's life were in danger.

Supporters of the new petition now must gather 16,776 signatures of registered voters by April 1 to add an initiated measure to the Nov. 4, 2008 general election ballot, said Elections Supervisor Kea Warne.

Thirteen people sponsored the petition, including Dr. Patricia Giebink, a Chamberlain obstetrician-gynecologist who performed abortions at Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls in 1996 and 1997. In 2006, she started working on the campaign to ban them.

The proposal would effectively prohibit abortions as a means of birth control, Giebink said.

"This is what the people said they wanted after the 2006 campaign. And a number of polls since then indicate a majority of people believe abortion should not be a method of birth control," Giebink said.

"We have worked with a panel of experts to ensure this bill will make a good law. We went with what we did before, plus we made the changes that we said the people wanted."

The South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, the lead opposition group to the 2006 vote, started gathering petitions in October to urge lawmakers not to revisit the issue in the 2008 lawmaking session.

Jan Nicolay, co-chairman of the group and a former lawmaker, said at the time that people were unhappy with state lawmakers for continuing to push the abortion issue.

Nicolay could not be reached immediately Friday for comment on the latest effort to put it back before voters.

According to the petition, doctors who perform an abortion outside the proposed law's conditions could be charged with a Class 4 felony, which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Although the 2006 proposed abortion ban passed the Legislature, opponents of the measure gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. Voters rejected the ban by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent.

The 2007 Legislature took another run at the issue. It ended when the state Senate refused to revive a bill that had cleared the House but was later killed in a Senate committee. That measure would also have allowed abortions only in instances of rape and incest or to protect a woman's health or life.

The law that guides how signatures can be gathered changed this year. Now, people circulating petitions must be South Dakota residents and can't get paid on a per-signature basis, Warne said.

Besides Giebink, the other 12 sponsors of the petition are: Leah Anderson of Sioux Falls; Rep. Mary Glenski, D-Sioux Falls; Debra Hoy of Gregory; Karen Nelson of Elkton; Nicole Osmundson of Sioux Falls; Stacey Wollman of Rapid City; Allen Carlson of Rapid City; Robert Fischer of Rapid City; Dr. Donald Oliver of Rapid City; Dr. Ann Church of Spearfish; Kala Kickul of Sioux Falls; and Rory King of Aberdeen.

About 800 abortions are performed each year in South Dakota.