PIERRE, South Dakota (LifeSiteNews) — The office of South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley announced on Monday it has secured a settlement for the New York-based Mayday Health to remove its abortion pill advertisements it had placed around the state.
As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, last year, Mayday Health launched a campaign to place advertisements in pro-life states reading, “Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Learn more at Mayday Health,” particularly at gas stations.
The group’s executive director, Liv Reisner, said they did not fear legal repercussions “because we don’t sell, distribute or package abortion pills. We’re merely spreading First Amendment-protected free speech. So if anyone wants to come after us, what they’re coming after is the First Amendment.”
But the office of Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman disagreed, investigating them as deceptive advertising, and now South Dakota is declaring victory with a similar effort, announcing Mayday Health has agreed to remove “any signs with deceptive and unlawful advertisements of abortion pills in the state now and in the future.”
“Mayday Health targeted women and young girls encouraging them to take abortion pills while misleading them about the physical risks,” Jackley declared. “My position has been clear and unwavering, South Dakota law governs, and the misleading advertisements must be, and are, stopped.”
KELO reports that Reisner is attempting to spin the outcome as a victory because the AG’s office is dropping charges against them as part of the settlement. “We’ll continue exercising our First Amendment right, telling Americans in all 50 states that they can still access abortion pills. That includes South Dakota.”
In response, Jackley essentially warned Mayday not to press their luck. “Mayday was sued civilly in SD State Court for deceptive practices,” he said. “Its attempt to sue South Dakota in New York Federal Court failed for lack of jurisdiction. Its attempt to dismiss in SD State Court similarly failed. Its lack of success in both New York Federal Court and SD State Court is straightforward. Its deceptive signs are down, and its obligations under the settlement are clear and expected to be followed at least in South Dakota.”
Mail-order abortion pills have become arguably the abortion lobby’s most important tool for perpetuating abortion-on-demand and undermining pro-life laws, as it makes chemical abortions even in pro-life states extremely difficult to prevent.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s most recent annual report revealed that, almost two years (as of April 2024) after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed direct abortion bans to be enforced for the first time in half a century, the nation’s largest abortion chain still operated almost 600 facilities nationwide, through which it committed 392,715 in the most recent reporting period. According to the Lozier Institute’s Prof. Michael New, that is a “record number of abortions for the organization and represents approximately 40 percent of the abortions performed in the United States.”
Despite these dangers, and mail-order abortion pills undermining state pro-life laws, President Donald Trump announced during the 2024 campaign he would not reverse Biden’s rule changes. Pro-lifers were given hope in May 2025 that the White House’s position might change when U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised a “complete review” of the medical risks of abortion pills, though no conclusions or timetable have since been announced, and many pro-lifers have questioned whether the review is being slow-walked.
Last month, a group of senators held a private meeting with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, after which Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) went so far as to declare, “I just don’t think that that review is even underway.” The FDA claims it is merely taking the time to process and review all the data carefully.
