Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R) [official website], a known opponent of abortion, approved the regulation at issue in May, one month after signing [JURIST report] two other pieces of legislation restricting abortions. In April, the governor approved the Abortion Reporting Accuracy and Parental Rights Act [HB 2035, PDF], requiring unemancipated minors to obtain notarized parental signatures before an abortion may be performed, and the "fetal pain bill" [HB 2218, PDF], which restricts abortions beyond 22 weeks of pregnancy based on the belief that a fetus can feel pain at that stage of gestation. While states have been busy passing legislation seeking to restrict abortions, the courts are not always on board. In a move similar to the one taken by the District Court of Kansas, a judge for the US District Court for the District of South Dakota [official website] issued a preliminary injunction [JURIST report] earlier this week, blocking a South Dakota abortion regulation [HB 1217] requiring a 72-hour waiting period. Judge Karen Shreier ruled that the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota (ACLUSD) and Planned Parenthood Federation of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota [advocacy websites] were likely to succeed on their claims provisions in the law violate doctors' and patients' First Amendment rights and creates an undue burden on woman seeking abortions. The waiting period is the longest passed by any state.