SOUTH DAKOTA — Mayday Health, a New York-based healthcare resource provider have reported that they have filed a lawsuit against Marty Jackley, Attorney General of the state of South Dakota.
This lawsuit follows a controversy which began in December. Mayday came under fire from state officials over the display of ads at gas stations in South Dakota, purporting to have resources related to birth control and abortion. Though the organization did not explicitly state intentions with these ads beyond the informational, and are not a provider of medication of any kind, Jackley under advisement by Governor Larry Rhoden quickly issued a Cease and Desist, calling for the ads to be taken down and threatening legal consequences for noncompliance.
Mayday fired back against the allegations at the time, stating that they believed the ads to be within the bounds of free speech, and that the actions of the South Dakota government could work to chill free speech surrounding healthcare issues. “Information is not illegal. The First Amendment protects our right to publish truthful health information, and it protects the public’s right to access it,” said Mayday Executive director Liv Raisner in a statement given to the press today. “South Dakota’s Attorney General has threatened us with prosecution for educating people about their healthcare options. He wants to shut down our New York-based website and ban us from sharing information with folks in South Dakota and across the country — not because we broke any law, but because he disagrees with the choices people might make with the information we provide”.
Raisner additionally cited the Supreme Court’s 1975 Bigelow V. Virginia decision, which established a modern basis for free speech rights being afforded to commercial speech. “The Supreme Court has been clear: states cannot punish organizations for publishing truthful information about legal healthcare services, even when those services are restricted in that state,” said Raisner.
Mayday Health says that they will continue their stated mission of providing resources to “Make informed decisions about their own bodies and their own healthcare”.
