U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier of Rapid City, S.D., has granted a motion to allow two antiabortion pregnancy counseling services to join the state as defendants in a trial that will decide the outcome of a 2005 South Dakota law requiring abortion providers in the state to give women certain information before performing the procedure, the AP/Aberdeen American News reports (Brokaw, AP/Aberdeen American News, 11/14). The law, which was signed by Gov. Mike Rounds (R) in March and is scheduled to take effect in July, states that abortion terminates the life of a human being and requires physicians to fully inform women about risks, consequences and alternatives to abortion, such as adoption, at least two hours before performing the procedure. The measure also establishes that women have a relationship with the fetus until birth and that the state has an interest in protecting that relationship. Planned Parenthood of Minnesota/North Dakota/South Dakota in June filed suit requesting that the law be blocked because it violates doctors' free speech rights by requiring them to provide inaccurate and ideological information to women seeking abortion. Schreier in July issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the regulation and said the state cannot violate abortion providers' First Amendment rights by requiring them to "espouse the state's theology" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/15). Schreier recently ruled that Alpha Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Black Hills Crisis Pregnancy Center in Rapid City could join the lawsuit because they would be affected significantly by the outcome of the case, the AP/American News reports. Schreier said the centers have different interests than the state in upholding the law, noting that while the state seeks to ensure that women undergoing abortion receive information, the centers want to increase their referrals for counseling (AP/Aberdeen American News, 11/14). In September, Schreier moved the trial considering a permanent injunction to an unspecified date next year and set Feb. 28 as the deadline to conclude pretrial matters (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/15).