Three Republican states went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge abortion “shield laws” protecting providers in three Democratic states, escalating the legal conflict over pills that account for a majority of abortions.
The attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana contend that the laws in California, Massachusetts and New York undermine their abortion bans and their states’ sovereignty. Federal regulations allow prescriptions for abortion pills to be made by telehealth and filled by mail, and the three GOP states want to keep the pills out and punish out-of-state providers for sending them.
“We need and deserve the opportunity to be able to enforce our laws against those who have chosen, despite their knowledge of the illegality, to continue to foster abortion in our state,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said during a news conference with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin.
The Supreme Court can hear disputes between states directly, though it rarely does. If the top court weighs in, it could short-circuit existing lawsuits.
Louisiana and anti-abortion activists have been frustrated with a lack of federal action by President Donald Trump’s administration against medication abortion. Murrill sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its rules allowing mail-order prescriptions. The Supreme Court in May preserved access to abortion medications as that case plays out.
Thirteen states ban abortion in all stages of pregnancy, which the Supreme Court allowed in its 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Most Democratic-controlled states adopted abortion protections, including eight with laws intended to protect providers who prescribe abortion pills for patients in states with bans.
Louisiana and Texas have pursued criminal charges and civil claims against doctors based in New York and California. Officials in California and New York have refused to cooperate, citing their shield laws.
“Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas are asking the Supreme Court to let them impose their abortion bans on New York and punish our doctors for providing legal health care,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement Wednesday.
Even before Roe was overturned, abortion pills were the most common means of ending pregnancies in the U.S., and telehealth makes abortion available even where it’s banned. The three GOP attorneys general said hundreds of patients in their states use pills to end pregnancies each month.
Marshall said Alabama is asking the Supreme Court to hold that these laws violate the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the equal-sovereignty doctrine, the federal common law of public nuisance, and the Dormant Commerce Clause.
“Alabama’s pro-life laws exist to protect mothers and their children,” Marshall said in a statement. “If state sovereignty means anything, it means Alabama cannot be forced to accept the death of unborn children and the harm it causes to mothers because someone outside our borders disagrees with our choice to protect life.”
FDA scientists have found the regimen safe and effective, though the agency is now reviewing its rules.