Source: https://wearabledocs.com/states/south-dakota Anatomical gift act · South Dakota # How to Refuse Organ Donation in South Dakota In South Dakota you can refuse to donate by signing a record, in your will, or, during a terminal illness or injury, by telling at least two adults, one of whom has no interest in the decision. If you sign it yourself, you do not need witnesses. Once you have refused and not taken it back, no one else can donate your body or any part of it. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-26-54. If you came here to get off the registry ## Is removing the donor designation enough? Taking your name off the organ donor registry is a revocation. So is removing the designation from your driver’s license. South Dakota law treats a revocation and a refusal as two different things, and only the refusal settles it. A revocation withdraws the gift you made. It does not stop anyone else from making the gift for you. Only a refusal does that, and South Dakota requires one to be signed. Until you sign one, the decision is still open to someone else. Both provisions are quoted in full below, from South Dakota’s own code. What South Dakota asks ## What you need to make a refusal in South Dakota **Act** 2006 revision **Enforcement** An unrevoked refusal bars all other persons from making the gift. **Signing it yourself** No witnesses required by the statute. **If someone signs at your direction** Two adults. At least one of the two must be a disinterested witness; the other may be anyone, including a family member. **Notary** Not required. **South Dakota law** S.D. Codified Laws §§ 34-26-54, 34-26-55 **Statute read** 2026-09-02 Refusal to make anatomical gift — Effect of refusal · Preclusive effect of anatomical gift, amendment, or revocation ## The statute itself Quoted from South Dakota’s enacted code, in full and unedited. How a refusal is made (a) > An individual may refuse to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part by: (1) A record signed by: (A) The individual; or (B) Subject to subsection (b), another individual acting at the direction of the individual if the individual is physically unable to sign; (2) The individual's will, whether or not the will is admitted to probate or invalidated after the individual's death; or (3) Any form of communication made by the individual during the individual's terminal illness or injury addressed to at least two adults, at least one of whom is a disinterested witness. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-26-54 Reads “Subject to subsection (b)”. That subsection is not reproduced here. What an unrevoked refusal does (d) > Except as otherwise provided in § 34-26-55(h), in the absence of an express, contrary indication by the individual set forth in the refusal, an individual's unrevoked refusal to make an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part bars all other persons from making an anatomical gift of the individual's body or part. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-26-54 A revocation is not a refusal (b) > A donor's revocation of an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under § 34-26-53 is not a refusal and does not bar another person specified in § 34-26-51 or 34-26-56 from making an anatomical gift of the donor's body or part under § 34-26-52 or 34-26-57. S.D. Codified Laws § 34-26-55 [Look up another state](https://wearabledocs.com/states) ## One document, not fifty forms. You tell us your state, we show you what it asks for before you sign, and your page names the state you signed in. Your signed document is what carries legal weight. We host it and make it findable. [See what it costs](https://wearabledocs.com/pricing)