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Three attorneys general in anti-abortion states filed a lawsuit directly with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the abortion shield laws of three Democratic-led states that protect physicians who send medication for abortion through the mail.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R), along with her counterparts in Alabama and Arkansas, said the shield laws in New York, Massachusetts and California violate four provisions of the Constitution by preventing anti-abortion states from enforcing their own laws.
The lawsuit — along with another case that the three states filed in federal District Court in Louisiana against people and organizations working to prescribe or dispense abortion pills — takes aim at what Murrill called a “scheme” to undermine the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to an abortion.
The blue states did not simply codify abortion in their own borders but were “actively seeking ways to nullify the sovereign rights of pro-life states,” the attorneys general said in the suit.
“Louisiana has made its position on abortion clear through the bipartisan will of the people’s representatives in its Legislature,” Murrill said in a statement. “We will not allow activist states, activist providers, or distributors profiting from killing babies to threaten Louisiana’s sovereignty, violate Louisiana law, or endanger Louisiana women and babies.”
Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama all have near-total abortion bans, where abortion is illegal at all stages except in extremely limited circumstances, such as when the individual’s life is endangered by the pregnancy. Louisiana also classifies the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances, restricting who can access them.
Wednesday’s lawsuit is the latest escalation of a battle between states that began shortly after Roe was overturned in 2022, and it marks the first time litigation has been filed directly against states with shield laws, rather than against individual providers.
More than a dozen states have laws shielding medical providers and others from out-of-state investigations and prosecutions regarding abortions and gender-affirming care.
But only California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington protect providers from being punished regardless of a patient’s location.
“New York has always been a safe haven for reproductive freedom. It was true before Roe, it has been true since Dobbs, and it will remain true long after this lawsuit inevitably fails,” New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said in a statement.
Murrill previously clashed with New York over abortion when Louisiana last year indicted and attempted to extradite a New York doctor who prescribed and sent abortion medication through the mail to a resident of the Pelican State.
In January, she charged and sought to extradite a California doctor who prescribed medication abortion. In both cases, the governors — Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) of California and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) of New York — refused to comply.
Murrill and other attorneys general also previously called on Congress to end shield laws.
Abortion rights advocates say providers in shield law states have been a resource for tens of thousands of people living in red states as abortion access continues to shrink. There are nearly 24 states that ban or restrict abortion in some way.
Mifepristone and misoprostol, the two medications commonly prescribed to end a pregnancy, are considered safe and effective when used as prescribed. Mifepristone is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to end a pregnancy at up to 10 weeks gestation.
English (US) ·