Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has issued subpoenas to six gas stations in three counties over advertisements promoting a national nonprofit that provides information about abortion resources.
According to a Jan. 23 press release from Coleman’s office, gas stations in Christian, Logan, and Simpson counties displayed ads stating, “Pregnant? Don’t want to be? Learn more at Mayday Health.”
The office did not name the specific gas stations under investigation but said the subpoenas were issued amid concerns that the stations “could be participating in the unlawful mailing or delivery of abortion pills into Kentucky.” The businesses have 20 days to respond.
Kentucky Today reported in August that Mayday Health launched the advertising campaign at rural gas stations in Kentucky and West Virginia.
Liv Raisner, executive director of Mayday Health, said in a statement provided to the Lantern that “abortion pills are safe and available.”
“It turns out Attorney General Russell Coleman doesn’t like free speech as much as he says,” Raisner said. “This just happened when we put up signs at gas stations in South Dakota. We won a temporary restraining order against the South Dakota Attorney General. We think everyone in Kentucky, and South Dakota, and around the country, should know that abortion pills are safe and available.”
Reuters reported on Jan. 20 that a federal judge blocked South Dakota’s attorney general from preventing Mayday from advertising in that state.
In a statement, Coleman warned groups advertising abortion resources from outside Kentucky.
“Out-of-state activist groups who are targeting the vulnerable here should be on notice: Keep your illegal pills out of our commonwealth or face the full weight of the Attorney General’s Office,” Coleman said. “These deadly and unlawful pills cannot be allowed to continue flooding into Kentucky through the mail, and we will thoroughly pursue every lead to hold bad actors accountable.”
A law passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2022 states that abortion medication may only be provided by a physician who is a nonsurgical abortion provider.
The law further states that it is unlawful for any manufacturer, distributor, physician, pharmacy, or other individual to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly dispense, prescribe, or distribute abortion-inducing drugs to a pregnant person through courier, delivery, or mail services.
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