SW News: In what is seen as a setback to the pro-life initiatives put forth by South Dakota, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the implementation of a bill related to access to abortion pills. If it comes into effect, the bill would have made the state one of the most difficult locations in the country to obtain abortion medication.

Late Wednesday, US District Judge Karen Schreier approved Planned Parenthood's request for a restraining order on a state Department of Health rule slated to take effect on Thursday. According to the proposed bill, people seeking abortions would have to consult the doctor to receive the second of two pills used in a medication abortion. It was Republican governor Kristi Noem who initiated the rule change through an executive order.

According to Schreier, who was nominated by former President Bill Clinton, Planned Parenthood had proven that the rule "imposes an unreasonable barrier on a person's right to seek an abortion." According to abortion rights organizations, the regulation change essentially ended access to pharmacological abortions in South Dakota.

Meanwhile, in a press conference on Thursday, Noem claimed that the rule is vital for women's safety, adding that she will not back down from introducing legislation to enshrine it in law.

In the United States, medication abortion has been legal since 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone for ending pregnancies of up to 10 weeks. When used with a hormone blocker called misoprostol, it's usually referred to as the abortion pill.

After the FDA permanently eliminated a restriction that people seeking abortion pills pick them up in person last month, Noem sought to tighten it even more.