Late last year, gas stations across South Dakota had signs plastered with ads reading “Pregnant? Don’t want to be?” and promoting the New York abortion pill supplier Mayday Health. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley immediately took action by filing a “cease and desist” letter.

After Mayday escalated the situation by refusing to take down the ads, South Dakota formally filed a lawsuit against the company, explaining that further investigation revealed a “plethora of deceptive acts and practices, false pretense, false promises, or misrepresentations, and the concealment, suppression, or omission of material facts in connection with the advertisement of abortion-inducing pills and abortion services; the sale of abortion related merchandise; and in the solicitation of contributions for charitable purposes.”

One week later, Mayday filed a countersuit against the state of South Dakota for allegedly suppressing the organization’s First Amendment rights.

We’re pleased to report good results on both legal challenges – the one here and the countersuit filed in New York, where Mayday Health is headquartered.

The federal countersuit in New York:

On February 11, New York District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla declined to grant Mayday a preliminary injunction against South Dakota’s lawsuit, stating, “I do believe that the law requires me to abstain from exercising federal jurisdiction in this case. I trust that the South Dakota court will get it right.” The court refused to take the action that Mayday requested.

The lawsuit here in South Dakota:

In the weeks after the New York court decision, Mayday Health agreed to a settlement with South Dakota on March 5, which states the following:

Mayday Health agrees that it will ensure the removal of the Gas Station Placards and will terminate its campaign to place additional Gas Station Placards throughout South Dakota. Mayday Health also agrees that, going forward, it will not place, either directly or indirectly through third-party actions, any signs, posters, placards, billboards, or other physical media within the physical borders of South Dakota that aid, abet, or solicit illegal conduct as established by law.

Mayday Health and South Dakota agree to jointly dismiss the South Dakota Action and the New York Action within 24 hours of the execution of this agreement.

“I promised to hold Mayday Health accountable for its deceptive abortion pill ads in South Dakota, and I did. The ads are coming down,” AG Jackley declared.

Mayday has attempted to frame this settlement as a win, but make no mistake – South Dakota prevailed in this series of lawsuits. New York’s dismissal of Mayday’s countersuit left them with only two options: face an almost certain defeat in a South Dakota court, or agree to the settlement in which they forfeit the position they were fighting for.

“Mayday Health targeted women and young girls, encouraging them to take abortion pills while misleading them about the physical risks,” Jackley noted in a press release. “My position has been clear and unwavering, South Dakota law governs, and the misleading advertisements must be, and are, stopped.”

Going forward, our state will be in an even stronger position to fight back against pill-pushers like Mayday Health, thanks to the passage of HB1274. This bill gives the Attorney General additional tools to prosecute the companies attempting to ship these pills into the state for abortions.