SOUTH DAKOTA — Yesterday, Governor Larry Rhoden announced via news.sd.gov that he had urged Attorney General Marty Jackley to investigate an ad campaign within the state, which the governor stated “appears to conflict with South Dakota’s proud pro-life stance”. 

Rhoden in his release went on to refer to the ads which have appeared across gas stations and in digital form across South Dakota, saying “This advertising campaign threatens the lives of children yet to be born in our state, and it also threatens the health of South Dakota mothers, as chemical abortions are four times as likely to cause a mother to end up in the emergency room,” potentially in reference to a retracted study which purports this point. 

The advertisement, reading “Pregnant? Don’t want to be?” for nonprofit information-provider Mayday Health has sparked controversy in recent days and have drawn the attention of the state government, who are focused on the takedown of the ads.

As a result of a 2006 trigger law, healthcare providers may not provide “any medicine, drug, or substance or uses or employs any instrument or other means with intent thereby to procure an abortion,” establishing the practice as a class 6 felony, punishable by two years in prison and up to a $4000 dollar fine, except in cases where the pregnant mothers’ life is at risk. No exception is given in legislation for cases of rape, incest, or an otherwise unviable pregnancy (such as immediately fatal birth defects).

Mayday is a national organization which focuses on connecting individuals to healthcare providers in order to secure birth control, plan B (also known as the “morning-after pill”) as well as Plan C (referred to commonly as “abortion pills”) as well as other services. They importantly present themselves as a source of information, and not a provider of medication themselves, featuring links to websites like Reprocare, reproductive health hotlines, and even the r/abortion subreddit. “Mayday Health spreads awareness that abortion pills are safe, effective, and have been FDA approved for over 20 years,” said Emma Beck, on behalf of Executive Director Liv Raisner “This is First Amendment-protected free speech. Mayday is an education nonprofit. We don’t sell abortion pills, we just believe people should know their options”.

Jackley has responded today to Rhoden’s call, issuing a “Cease and Desist” to the nonprofit organization Mayday Health, calling on them to cease advertisement in the state and threatening that if the organization chooses to maintain this practice they may face legal repercussions within a court of law. “Your advertisement directs South Dakota consumers to resources that insinuate abortion-inducing pills are legal in South Dakota, while also urging women not to seek medical care after taking abortion pills and to keep their abortion a secret,” said Jackley in the letter to Mayday.

The American Civil Liberties Union responded to the issue this morning, referring to the actions of the state government as a “a politically motivated attack on free speech”. “Despite the state’s near-total ban on abortion, the governor can’t prevent information about abortion from being shared in South Dakota,” states the release from the ACLU, “The United States Supreme Court considers speech about abortion protected speech under the First Amendment and has reaffirmed that position multiple times since Bigelow v. Virginia in 1975”. 

“This targeted attack against information about abortion violates our First Amendment right to share and receive information and puts a target on any other organization or individual who dares to share information that the governor disfavors,” says Samantha Chapman, ACLU of South Dakota’s Advocacy Manager, who warns that the investigation threatens to chill discussion of protected speech surrounding pro-choice healthcare.

“We believe that it’s critical to reach people with health information at community hubs. abortion in rural areas is a privacy issue,” said Raisner in an interview with Keloland Monday. “If there’s one singular health clinic in the area, people talk. We want to make sure that people can learn their options anonymously and privately”.

The Rapid City Post questioned Rushmore Sinclair of Rapid City (listed as the location of an ad by Mayday) who stated that they had never run the ad, or the ads of any external organization.