What came first, North or South Dakota? Thanks to the likes of former President Benjamin Harrison—who deliberately shuffled, reshuffled, and then shuffled again the two papers that would make the two territories into states in 1889—we will never know. But it appears that, as the old adage goes, history has repeated itself—and this time, North Dakota is following its sister state in kicking the First Amendment to the curb and throwing a litigative hissy fit over the abortion pill.
On Friday, Attorney General Drew Wrigley (R-N.D.) filed a cease-and-desist against Fargo-based Prairie Abortion Fund (PAF) for listing abortion providers, abortion rights sites, and emotional support organizations on their website. That’s it.
The letter alleges that PAF violated the Consumer Fraud Law, saying “[PAF] engaged in the unlawful, deceptive, and dangerous practice of advertising, promoting, and facilitating the sale of drugs, namely Abortion Pills, that are counterfeit, misbranded, unlawful, untested, unapproved, or sold in an unlawful manner.” Weird use of “untested” there given how mifepristone was approved by the FDA in 2000 and has been proven safe by over 100 studies, but OK!
Specifically, Wrigley’s letter calls out Plan C Pills, an organization that provides state-to-state details on how to order abortion pills online. It also connects abortion seekers to trusted vendors who can provide affordable care. In an accompanying statement, Wrigley added, “These actions pose a significant health risk to pregnant women and facilitate the violation of North Dakota’s healthcare requirements, in part, by taking doctors out of the equation.”
But it’s North Dakota’s near-total abortion ban that took out doctors in the first place. Red River Women’s Clinic was the only in-person clinic in the state for 20 years, but it relocated to Minnesota after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
Hoo boy, First Amendment watch: The North Dakota Attorney General sent a cease-and-desist letter to an abortion fund for simply linking to @plancpills.bsky.social. AG claims the link constitutes promoting and facilitating access to medicine without a prescription under the state’s consumer fraud law
— Susan Rinkunas (@susanrinkunas.com) January 18, 2026 at 10:49 PM
According to the PAF website—which was founded in 1999 and originally named ND Women in Need Abortion Access Fund—the organization helps abortion seekers from North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota with medical fees, travel and lodging expenses, and other associated costs such as birth control and STI testing. It also specifically says it does not help with legal or medical advice.
In December, South Dakota’s Governor and AG tried to block Mayday Health, a New York-based “reproductive health education nonprofit,” from running a series of abortion pill advertisements at gas stations. The organization recently filed a lawsuit against the nightmare due for unconstitutional censorship.
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