Feb. 12, 2026:
A federal judge in New York issued a ruling this week (Feb. 11, 2026) declining to hear a lawsuit brought against Mayday Health by the State of South Dakota, but the issue will continue at the state court level.
Attorney General Marty Jackley says state court is where the arguments should be heard.
Jackley is basing his lawsuit on the state’s “deceptive trade practice act.”
Mayday Health markets itself as a resource provider, not a medication provider, but Jackley feels the national non-profit company’s website has crossed the line into deceptive trade practices.
Jackley says not only is it illegal to mail or bring abortion pills into the state, but there’s also a health concern for women who may unknowingly take the pills. He says that situation is documented in a supporting affidavit from a South Dakota medical provider.
Mayday Health has the option to appeal the New York federal court judge’s decision, but as of mid-afternoon Wednesday, Jackley didn’t know whether or not the company planned to do that.
Jackley began the investigation into the advertisements at the request of Governor Larry Rhoden.
South Dakota laws ban abortion except to save the life of the mother as well as outlawing the administering or procuring of any medicine, drug or substance to perform an abortion within state boundaries.
ACLU of South Dakota Advocacy Manager Samantha Chapman has called Rhoden and Jackley’s investigation “little more than political theater at the taxpayer’s expense.” She said the “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.”
A hearing in the case has been scheduled for next week (Feb. 20) in Pierre.
Jan. 27, 2026:
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley will personally appear in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Thursday (Jan. 29, 2026) to argue that South Dakota state court, not New York federal court, should rule on whether Mayday Health’s advertisements in South Dakota are untruthful and deceptive including whether it has the right to advertise the sale of abortion pills in South Dakota that the State Legislature has banned.
“It has long been the rule of law that federal courts must refrain from interfering with ongoing state court proceedings and to respect state sovereignty when there exists important state interests,” said Jackley. “I respected state interests and state courts when I served as our United States Attorney, and as our Attorney General I will fight for our right to determine our own laws and to enforce them.”
Jackley in December issued a letter to Mayday Health that it cease and desist from engaging in deceptive advertising regarding the availability of abortion pills in South Dakota which is illegal. Attorney General Jackley also filed a motion in state court requiring Mayday Health stop its advertising that is either untruthful or contrary to South Dakota law. Mayday Health responded by filing an emergency temporary restraining order in New York U.S. Federal Court. The federal New York court ordered a full hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. CST Thursday in New York City.
Jackley has filed a brief in federal court based on the Younger abstention doctrine, which is a legal doctrine where the federal court defers to local state-court proceedings. The federal judge had invited both sides to file briefs based on the Younger doctrine.
South Dakota’s federal brief is can be found here:
Dec. 23, 2025:
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley filed a motion in Hughes County Circuit Court this week (Dec. 22, 2025) requesting that two companies be ordered to stop what he calls “deceptive advertising” of the sale of abortion pills and abortion services in South Dakota.
Abortions are banned in South Dakota except for specific, extenuating circumstances. State law also prohibits the administering or procuring of any medicine, drug or substance to perform an abortion within state boundaries.
Jackley’s motion requests a preliminary or permanent injunction against Mayday Medicines, Inc., doing business as Mayday Health from New York, and against AllOver Media, LLC, doing business as Momentara from Minnesota. A hearing date has not yet been set.
Mayday Health began running the ads Dec. 8, 2025, at an estimated 30 gas stations around the state. The Attorney General’s Office sent a letter to Mayday Health Dec. 10 ordering the company to immediately cease and desist the advertising.
Jackley said the advertisements are misleading about what services are legally available in South Dakota. He said if the court approves the state’s request and the companies don’t comply, said he will seek penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.
Jackley began the investigation into the advertisements at the request of Governor Larry Rhoden.
ACLU of South Dakota Advocacy Manager Samantha Chapman called Rhoden and Jackley’s investigation “little more than political theater at the taxpayer’s expense.” She said the “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.”
Some of the gas stations have already voluntarily taken down the advertisements.
To read the motion, click this link, abortion advertising attorney general motion for preliminary and permanent injunction 122325.
Dec. 10, 2025:
The ACLU of South Dakota says Governor Larry Rhoden’s request for an investigation into an advertising campaign that they say is “educating people about the safety and effectiveness of abortion pills” is a politically motivated attack on free speech.
Samantha Chapman, ACLU of South Dakota advocacy manager, said (Dec. 10, 2025) despite the state’s near-total ban on abortion, the governor can’t prevent information about abortion from being shared in the state. She says the “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.”
Chapman said attempts to restrict information about abortion will only further isolate pregnant South Dakotans seeking to educate themselves about medical care. She called Rhoden and Attorney General Marty Jackley’s investigation into Mayday Health’s ads “little more than political theater at the taxpayer’s expense.”
Chapman said 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.
Mayday Health is non-profit organization that provides education about medication abortion and how to access it in the United States. It does not sell or provide the pills used to perform a medication abortion.
Meanwhile…..
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has sent a letter to Mayday Health (Dec. 10, 2025) ordering the company to immediately stop what his office calls “the deceptive advertising of the sale of abortion pills in South Dakota.”
The letter also said the state may bring a lawsuit against the company if it does not comply.
Abortions are banned in South Dakota except for specific, extenuating circumstances. State law also prohibits the administering or procuring of any medicine, drug or substance to perform an abortion within state boundaries.
Jackley said his investigation indicates that the company is misleading the public through deceptive information and advice provided in the advertisements. He said Mayday Health’s advertisements:
- don’t list the prohibitions in state law,
- direct those reading the ads to resources that insinuate abortion-inducing pills are legal in South Dakota, and
- urge women not to seek medical care after taking abortion pills to keep their abortion a secret.
Jackley said based on the information his office has found, it appears that Mayday Health’s business practices “constitute a deceptive act or practice under SDCL Ch. 37-24, the South Dakota Deceptive Practices and Consumer Protection Act.”
If South Dakota does file a lawsuit, Mayday Health could face felony criminal consequence or civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.
Jackley began an investigation into the advertisements at the request of Governor Larry Rhoden.
Dec. 9, 2025:
South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden has sent state Attorney General Marty Jackley a letter asking him to investigate an advertising campaign for abortion pills that’s showing up in gas stations around the state.
Rhoden says Jackley has agreed to pursue the investigation.
According to a report by KELOLAND News, Mayday Health is advertising abortion pills at 30 gas stations in 20 South Dakota cities. Rhoden says the ad campaign is potentially in violation of South Dakota law or could be a deceptive trade practice.
Abortion became illegal in South Dakota, except to save the life of a pregnant mother, following the United States Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturning the legal right to have an abortion. Also in 2022, South Dakota lawmakers and the Noem-Rhoden Administration took things a step further when they banned chemical abortions via telemedicine by passing and signing into law HB 1318. Then in 2024, South Dakota voters rejected a Constitutional Amendment that would have legalized abortion in the state.
Rhoden says his team will work with Jackley’s team “to assess whether this issue needs to be addressed with further legislation.”
Rhoden says “South Dakota has the most pro-life laws in the nation” and he’s proud of that fact. He says the 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.”
Jackley says, “All ad campaigns, no matter what the issue, need to follow state laws and fair trade practices.” He says his office will review the ads and determine if any laws have been broken. If so, the Attorney General’s Office will take appropriate action.
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